One area of Cape Town that is changing like wildfire is the strip along Albert Road bounded by the Woodstock Industrial Centre at one end, where Kathryn Smith and Christian Nerf are living and working in their space Serialworks, and at the other end by our studio, All Star Studio, located in Spencer Road at the far end of Salt River.
A very few years ago, this area was solid workingclass, the calls from the mosques marking out the working day. The Cape Town garment industry had not yet been macerated by China, and little businesses serving the CMT (cut, make and trim) trade like the Frillee Pleating Company lined the streets.
Then Gilles de Moyencourt abandoned his midtown antiques business and bought a building which he called Albert Hall, with a bar downstairs. The fledgling gallery WhatiftheWorld moved in to the first floor, and the old Biscuit Mill was renovated and the Neighbourhood Goods Market started up on Saturday mornings.
In the last few months, a great new restaurant Superette opened next door to Albert Hall, and already it's hard to find a lunchtime seat. At the same time as the artists began to move in, the immigrant community started their small businesses too, and Congolese restaurants like Jinja started up, and hairdressing boards with painted images of styles made their appearance
I thought about all this driving to Serialworks on Friday night to watch Ben Lewis’s documentary on the contemporary art world, The Great Contemporary Art Bubble. I’ve run out of space to tell you more about this, but you can read more about this fascinating view from an insider at http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/greatcontemporaryartbubble
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