Michael Blum- 17 AANDBLOEM STREET
17 Aandbloem Street is the address of the house where I've been staying in Cape Town. It is located in Vredehoek, a neighbourhood between city center and suburb, decay and gentrification, private ownership and public housing. I've tried to portray the house, starting with its current inhabitants and neighbors, as well as going back in time and investigating its past, its former owners and tenants. Memories and story-telling are prominent, as well as data collected from other sources, like the city archive or the office of deeds. To a certain extent, the project seeks to collect micro-stories related to the house before they disappear.
Stories have been provided by: Jean Meeran (current tenant), Lindsay Clowes (current co-owner), Iain Louw (architect & academic), Lin Sampson (neighbour 1 Clive St), Lorraine Griessel & Alex Smuts (neighbours twin house, 15 Aandbloem Street aka. Buena Vista Villa n°2), Hadley and Gael Craig (neighbours Clive St. 2), Dichara Pillay (cousin and ex-roommate of Jean Meeran), Melanie Perfect (clairvoyant), Alexa Singer (ex-tenant), Michael (homeless man living around the house), Zariah Dagnell (real estate agent).
After conducting the interviews which illuminate an aspect of the house or the experience people have had of it, the project culminated with the Green Patch Party held on September 24th . It aimed at squatting the Green Patch in front of the house for a few hours, getting friends (used to parties within the house and on the stoep [balcony in front of the house] ) and neighbours (who usually don't talk to each other) together around a picnic, celebrating the Green Patch itself as a public space to be honoured, the end of my research and the wind of change in South Africa - it took place on Heritage Day. In addition, four Black Noise dancers (Duane, Lester, Denis, Angelo) came for a break-dance performance, which proved technically difficult because of the slope.
