[We are] designing : the South African pavilion for world expo 2020, Dubai, UAE

Abstract

The 'Beyond' as Bhaba1 (1994:1) conceives it, is "neither a new horizon, nor a leaving behind of the past"; rather it is the borders to the present. These boundaries of the present are the "that from which something begins its essential unfolding", according to Heidegger (1978:356). Unfolding as a consequence of the intersection of time and space, produces complex, as opposed to unitary or reductive, figures of difference and identity in Bhaba's (1994:2) view. It is with these 'complex figure of difference and identity' which enact 'hindsight' to re-describe our cultural contemporaneity; to re-inscribe our human, historic commonality, that this study is interested in. Within the context of nation branding, these figures offer an alternative to the archetypal western approach to identity construction. The western approach to nation branding is based on two critical assumptions; firstly, that modern nations are composed of homogeneous societies, and secondly, that these societies share a common culture. It is here that the problem lies, for at its essence, South Africa is pluralistic. We are a multicultural rainbow nation. We do not have typical shared myths, historical memories and a mass public culture due to historical and more recent political struggles within our country. Consequently, we do not follow the typical western approach to nation branding. It is therefore the intention of this study to make use of Bhaba's (1994) theory of the 'Beyond' and his notions of Interstices and Cultural Hybridity as adjectives and means of complex culture production, introduced above, to propose an alternative multicultural South African identity to be spatially transcribed into the South African pavilion at the Expo 2020, Dubai UAE. To this end, the study conducted a Hermeneutical, Social Visual Semiotic and Lexical analysis of I-JUSI, the selected hybrid culture. The results of the examination produced seven brand indicators. These indicators in conjunction with a set of design principals; established via a precedent study of artifacts, interiors, buildings and landscapes that explored or expressed the nation's new emerging collective national identity, will be used to spatially embody the design concept for the pavilion.Die "Anderkant" (1994:1) soos Bhaba dit verstaan, is nie 'n "nuwe horison" maar ook nie " 'n vergeet van die verlede" nie, dit is liewer die grense van die huidige. Hierdie grense van die huidige is "dit wat waarvan iets sy noodsaaklike ontplooing begin", volgens Heidegger (1978:356). Ontplooing, as 'n gevolg van die kruising van tyd en ruimte, skep komplekse beelde in kontras met die unit?re of reduserende, beelde met verskille en identiteite uit Bhaba (1994:2) se oogpunt. Dit is met hierdie "komplekse beeld van verskil en identiteit" wat "nawete" implementeer dat ons ons kulturele tydelikheid kan her-definieer; om ons menslike, historiese ooreenkomste te her-graveer, dit is die studie waarmee ons onself mee bemoei. Binne die die begrip van handelsmerking bied hierdie beelde 'n alternatief tot die argetipiese westerse benadering tot identiteits konstruksie. Die westerse benadering tot handelsmerking is gebaseer op twee kritiese aannames: eerstens, dat moderne nasies van homogene samelewings saamgestel is, en tweedens, dat hierdie samelewings 'n algemene kultuur deel. Dit is hier waar die probleem l?, want Suid Afrika is wesentlik pluristies. Ons is 'n multi-kulturele re?nboog nasie . Ons besit nie tipiese legendes wat gedeel word onder ons nie en historise herinneringe en 'n massa publiek as gevolg van historiese en meer onlangse politiese stryd in ons land. Dus as 'n gevolg, volg ons nie die tipiese westerse benadering tot nasie handelsmerking nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is dus om gebruik te maak van Bhaba (1994) se teorie van die "Anderkant" en sy nasies van tussenruimtes en kulturele hibridisasie as byvoeglike naamwoorde, en wyses van kompleks kultuur produksie, soos hierbo bekendgestel, om 'n alternatiewe multikulturele Suid Arikaanse identiteit voor te stel en om die studie op 'n ruimtelike wyse op skrif te stel binne die Suid Afrikaanse Paviljoen by die "Expo 2020, Dubai UAE". Vir hierdie doel omvat die studie 'n hermeneutiese, sosiaal visuele semoitiese en leksikale analise van l-JUSI, die verkose hibried kultuur. Die resultate van die ondersoek het sewe handels indikators gewerf. Hierdie merke, tesame met 'n stel ontwerp beginsels ,het deur middel van 'n presedent studie van artefakte, interieurs, geboue en landskappe wat die nasie se nuwe ontluikende kollektiwe persoonlike identiteit uitdruk, gaan gebruik word om die ontwerp konsep van die pawiljoen ruimtelik uit te druk.