Platfontein, home to the !Xun and Khwe peoples, holds rich traditions, languages and oral histories that remain vital expressions of cultural identity despite displacement and ongoing challenges. Since 2017, the Platfontein Print Project, initiated by the Free State Arts and Health Programme, has brought young artists and community elders together to transform traditional stories into linocut print editions. Through mentorship, training, exhibitions and creative collaboration, the project preserves cultural knowledge while fostering new generations of artists and storytellers. Presented with the Isibindi Youth Centre, the initiative supports community pride, dialogue and wellbeing through ethical, community-driven arts practice.
Platfontein Print Project is an initiative of the Free State Arts and Health Programme at the International Institute for the Arts (IIA), University of the Free State, in partnership with the Isibindi Youth Centre, and the Vrystaat Arts Festival.
The exhibition is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00.
Developed by acclaimed actress Karin Retief, Act Out Workshops is a creative training space that uses drama, storytelling, and performance techniques to build confidence, communication, and self-expression. Through practical, engaging sessions, participants explore creativity, strengthen their voice, and connect with others in a supportive environment. Designed for aspiring performers and professionals alike, the workshops combine acting, improvisation, and storytelling with life-skills development. Act Out Workshops aims to nurture artistic talent while empowering individuals to think boldly, collaborate effectively, and realise their full potential.
Soil & Water is an international arts program collaboratively developed and curated by Prof. Johan Thom (University of Pretoria), Dr. Basak Senova, and the NIROX Foundation in South Africa. It proposes a dynamic, modular platform emerging from the Cradle of Humankind to rethink, reimagine, and reconfigure our fragile relationship with soil and water. Framed by ecology, storytelling, and material culture, it recognises that these relationships are culturally embedded, not merely scientific. The project seeks to generate ideas and actions for the sustainable transformation of our engagement with the natural world, its resources, and our place within it for future generations.
The exhibit is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00
A moving and deeply human story unfolds in TRANS/VAAL – a new Afrikaans dance theatre production that, with honesty and courage, explores themes of identity, belonging, and self-acceptance against the backdrop of rural South Africa in the 1980s. It follows the coming-of-age of a young Afrikaner boy who feels different in a world that demands obedience and conformity. Through a series of poetic, sometimes humorous and often painful vignettes, he discovers what it means to be true to himself: to accept his identity despite the expectations of his conservative community.
Becoming Arable by Liz Voster explores the connection between personal transformation and care for the land. Inspired by the artist’s return to her family farm in the North-Eastern Cape, the exhibition reflects a renewed engagement with soil, labour, and agricultural rhythms. Through repetitive, labour-intensive drawings, Voster traces her evolving relationship with nature, land, and self, inviting quiet reflection rather than fixed interpretation. Central to the exhibition is a mound of carefully cultivated home-made soil, symbolising patience, decay, renewal, and care. Visitors may take a handful of soil and a seed from the artist’s personal seed bank, extending the work beyond the gallery into a shared act of environmental responsibility and nurturing the earth.
The exhibit is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00
Verken jou Nagdrome is an interactive workshop presented by Zarine Roodt that examines dreams as tools for self-reflection, emotional insight, and creativity. Inspired by Carl Gustav Jung, it focuses on dreams as messages from the unconscious and guides for growth. Participants learn basic dreamwork techniques and bring a meaningful dream for guided reflection. A practical SoulCollage activity uses images to visually express dream themes. Through creative exercises and group discussion, the session fosters self-awareness, insight, and dialogue around inner experiences and personal symbolism.
Underground Spiritual Game explores a symbolic visual language shaped by intuition and inner processes beyond words. Stylised, totemic figures – part human, animal, and archetype – suggest rather than fix meaning. Through layered signs, patterns, and colour, the works engage themes of spirituality, belief, and the unseen structures that shape experience. Though playful in appearance, they hold deeper complexity, referencing personal narratives, cultural memory, and identity. The exhibition resists singular interpretation, inviting viewers to navigate meaning for themselves. Each work becomes a contemplative space where symbols act as both markers and mysteries, encouraging intuitive engagement with underlying realities.
The exhibition is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00.
A screen print is more than the final image; it includes the entire collaborative process. Shaped by factors such as studio space, residency timelines, and technical possibilities, the work unfolds like improv theatre. Artists engage in spontaneous, unscripted dialogue, trusting one another’s expertise and responding to creative prompts. This dynamic exchange stretches their creativity and often leads to unexpected results. The selection curated for the Vrystaat Arts Festival highlights the range of possibilities within this process while showcasing each artist’s distinct visual language and the collective energy that drives the work.
The exhibition is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00.
Talk of the Village showcases Eastern Free State artists who explore community identity through mixed media. Using oils, pastels, recycled materials, soil, wire, and fabric, the works depict everyday village life, tradition, and cultural evolution. Styles range from realism to abstraction, reflecting personal and collective memory. Themes include Basotho motifs like Ditema, labor, cultural continuity, and practices such as lebollo. The exhibition celebrates heritage while engaging with contemporary village dynamics, emphasising communal values and the idea that a child is raised by a village, offering a reflective insight into rural life.
Presented by the Centre for Global Change at the University of the Free State.
The exhibition is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00.
Lloyd Flanegan’s work explores personal transformation through alchemical symbolism, inspired by Carl Jung’s interpretation of the Magnum Opus – spiritual purification and individuation. Each alchemical stage, from calcination to coagulation, symbolises confronting fear, shame, and personal history. Using symbols, totems, and charms, Flanegan creates visual vessels representing transformation and self-discovery, emphasising becoming over fixed narrative. Rooted in self-mythology, the work reflects the artist’s evolving journey while inviting viewers to explore their own inner landscapes. The exhibition presents personal symbolism as a shared language, encouraging reflection on identity, resilience, and continual self-development.
The exhibition is open daily from 09:00 to 18:00.
