Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2018 | Highlights

As the largest event of its kind in Africa, Investec Cape Town Art Fair offered a platform for collectors, galleries, curators, artists, and art journalists from around the globe to create connections among the cutting edge of contemporary art. With an intimate experience of one of the world’s most unique art capitals, Investec Cape Town Art Fair has proven to be the place where the fast-growing African art market and the international art world meet.

Over a third of the exhibitors included in Investec Cape Town Art Fair came to Cape Town from abroad. Some of the many prominent international exhibitors present at the Fair included Galerie Perrotin (Paris), Galleria Minini (Brescia), Galerija Gregor Podnar (Berlin), Galleria Continua (San Gimignano), October Gallery (London), and Primo Marella Gallery (Milan). Leading galleries from the region, including Goodman Gallery, Stevenson, SMAC Gallery, Gallery MOMO, WHATIFTHEWORLD, and blank projects, alongside exhibitors from throughout Africa such as Circle Art Gallery, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Addis Fine Art, First Floor Gallery Harare, and Afriart Gallery represented the dynamic conversations happening within visual art in the region. This combination of regional and international galleries gave visitors an engaging, idiosyncratic view of the global art market.

Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2018 showed strong sales and attendance, with over 16 000 visitors and 2 815 invited guests. Local and international collectors spent the week buying art at the Fair and engaging with Cape Town’s vibrant art scene. An Investec Cape Town Art Fair VIP pass gave our guests and exhibitors access to an extensive programme of events taking place throughout the city. This included private, director-led walkabouts of the South African National Gallery, Zeitz MOCAA, A4 Arts Foundation, the Maitland Institute, and the Irma Stern Museum. Artist studio visits were hosted by Cape Town-based artists Penny Siopis, Igshaan Adams, Kyle Morland, Jared Ginsburg, Ed Young, and Sethembile Msezane. A second iteration of Gallery Night, which first took place during Zeitz MOCAA’s opening in September, gave guests the opportunity to gain more insight into some of Cape Town’s leading galleries. Investec Cape Town Art Fair also hosted the After Hours Hub in collaboration with the V&A Waterfront and Italian Consulate, where a 5-day film screening programme of video art by South African and Italian artists, curated by Analogue Eye, was held within shipping containers in the Silo District. For the first time, Investec Cape Town Art Fair partnered with Tour d’Afrique, a concierge service that assisted international galleries and collectors in experiencing Cape Town as a destination city.

Investec Cape Town Air Fair 2018 saw the introduction of a new section, SOLO, which offers an in-depth vision of artists’ practices through solo presentations. Curated by Nontobeko Ntombela, an independent curator and lecturer at Wits School of Art, the section focused on the artistic practices of woman artists with the intention of analysing the socio-political issues that women face globally, as well as highlighting the vast contribution of women to the art world. The section was made up of emerging, mid-career, and established artists: Renee Cox (Amar Gallery, London); Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Tiwani Contemporary, London); Stacey Gillian Abe (Afriart, Nairobi); Maïmouna Guerresi (Officine dell’Immagine, Milan); Keyezua (MOV’ART, Luanda), Buhlebezwe Siwani (WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town); Ingrid Bolton (Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg); Lucinda Mudge (Everard Read/CIRCA, Cape Town); Kimathi Mafafo (EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town); and Lhola Amira (SMAC Gallery, Cape Town).

The Unframed section, which presents experimental works that resist the parameters of a traditional Fair booth, presented works by Sethembile Msezane (Gallery MOMO, Cape Town), Lungiswa Gqunta (WHATIFTHEWORLD), and Turiya Magadlela (blank projects, Cape Town). Within the Tomorrows/Today section, curated by Fair Curator Tumelo Mosaka, the spotlight was placed on artists positioned to be tomorrow’s leading names. In 2018, the section consisted of ten artists: Tomorrows/Today prize winner Usha Seejarim (Fried Contemporary, Pretoria); Wura-Natasha Ogunji (50 Golbourne, London); Mário Macilau (Ed Cross Fine Art, London); Januário Jano (THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE, Luanda); (Wycliffe Mundopa (First Floor Gallery Harare); Io Makandal (Everard Read/CIRCA); Jacqui Stockdale (THIS IS NO FANTASY + dianne tanzer gallery, Melbourne); Themba Khumalo (Red Room Gallery, Cape Town); and Nicola Brandt (Guns & Rain, Johannesburg).

 Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2019 | Vision

Investec Cape Town Art Fair’s next edition will return to the CTICC from 15 – 17 February 2019. Developing the strength of Investec Cape Town Art Fair’s content, the Fair will continue to facilitate cultural and economic exchange, with international exhibitors showing within the African context for the first time, alongside the region’s leading contemporary art galleries. Tomorrows/Today, curated by Fair Curator Tumelo Mosaka, will create a platform for emerging and under-represented artists. 2019’s SOLO focus will lie at the intersection between the physical and digital world. Continuing to give insight into the artistic practices of emerging and established artists, the section will explore the effects of the digital world on our lived realities, through both new and traditional media.

In the second year of our partnership with Investec, Investec Cape Town Art Fair will present collectors with more opportunities to engage intimately with art through exclusive events, in collaboration with our participating galleries and partnering art institutions. In addition, the Fair will create a ramped up public programme that will give all visitors, both local and international, a new view of what Cape Town’s ever-expanding art scene has to offer.

Apply to participate in Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2019: http://www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za/call-for-entry-2019/

See the full Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2018 Exhibitor list: http://www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za/exhibitors/

And the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2018 Highlight video: https://youtu.be/0FTceBlFlV0