In the beginning, everything existed as one in an ever-flowing expression of the force of creation – the great Primordial Ocean of life. While this ocean of energy danced, one of the droplets became aware of itself, and finding itself separate from the vastness, everything changed. Out of the Great Waters came Mantis, the great being known by the old people as /Kaggen.
The forces of the great ocean threatened to suck him in while he fought for this newly gained individuality, when some unknown force within him brought into existence the Honey Bee. The Honey Bee rescued Mantis and flew him to a half-opened flower, floating on the surface of the Great Ocean. Using their last strength, Honey Bee placed with Mantis the Seed of Life, and fell to the waters returning back to the oneness.
Tankwa Town, now you have come awake. Known to live. Seen love. Heard the breeze. Walked out of SPACE and into CREATION. Stepped out of the darkness, and opened our eyes into the first light, starting the story that will reverberate through everything’s shared experience.
We stand poised at the beginning of time, in the vast timeless expanse of the Tankwa Basin wondering what comes next…
The Ocean. The Horizon. The Sky.
Anything under the sun, and anything under the sea. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something once in a blue moon. Lazy days, hazy days, singing the blues. Your biggest dreams and boldest ideas. Your greatest wonders and biggest fears. The drop of a hat, and a flash in the pan. Anything you can dream up, dress up, make up, or fess up. It’s a whole new expanse. The next big thing. Anything.
Larry Harvey
It’s the clouds in a blue Tankwa sky and the whirlwinds of dust and smoke. The aching cold winds that blow through Quaggafontein, chased by the rays of the sun. The rain, the hail, storm clouds and thunder. The lights in the sky, and the shadows on the moon scattered like mist.
Something else, something out of the ordinary, and something out of the blue. Something.
Alex Garland, The Beach
What if AfrikaBurn has jumped the shark? What if we jumped the aardvark? The snark? The snoek?
Let’s suck in our collective experience and let out our Tankwatic dreams, our nightmares, our deepest, wettest, darkest dripping desires, darling it’s better … down where it’s wetter .. take it from me.
Sophie Anderson
So let’s go back to the beach. Let’s hit the Playa. Slap on some sunscreen and get burnt. Let’s spread our wings and soar into a new world in the skies. Be the most buoyant and bouncy we can be. Let’s find our party-sea-pants, grab the Great Wave and indulge in some nautical nonsense with 20 000 other legs under the sea.
You’ve been waiting for the chance, with your long walks on the beach, screaming till you’re blue in the face, skips, ships, floats, boats, airplanes, aerobics, inflatables and lifejackets; it’s that chance to get your Baywatch on, explore the tip of the iceberg, get lost in the clouds, and dip your toes. Shake your hassles off, drop your jaws to the floors, do the sardine run, climb all the way up to the highest diving board, and disappear into thin air.
It’s boundless, it’s Bacchanalian, bodacious and bubbly. It’s completely unexpected and totally unawares.Your invitation to be surprised comes Out Of The Blue.
Lt Cdr Gillian Malouw
Upon awakening, /Kaggen began exploring his new form and environment, manifesting the first beings from his growing awareness, including his lifelong companion and wife, Klip Dassie. This marked the beginning of the First Creation, populated with animals, plants, and celestial bodies.
Mantis, now a master of himself and respected by all, looks back at everything he brought into creation and with the essence of the trees he brought into existence and gifted a tree to each and everyone in the First Creation, because he knew the importance this aspect of self holds to living this expression of creation.
Website artwork kindly gifted by Gordon Ross @ideacircus1965
Artists: Garfield Taylor and Rebecca Haysom, Chip Snaddon, Antony Gormley, Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheim, Dhuwarrwarr Marika, Vera Möller, Wayne McDermid and Damien Hirst, Roelien Brink, David Hockney, Jason deCaires Taylor, Jane Blundell, Stanislaw Trzebinski, Ghislain & Marie David de Lossy, Lauren Gomersall & Chris Megan
Photographs: Jonx Pillemer, Chris Leggatt, Ineke van Loven, Jacques Grobler, Kim van Zyl, Kirk Schafer, Laura Niggeschmidt, Reza Assar, Ruben Krueger, Sam Arn, Stewart Harvey, Ahmed Megahid, Sharon Wood, Steven Morrow
