The bumper fifth edition of the Cape Town Art Fair will offer a diverse display of contemporary art from leading local and international galleries. Over 75 exhibitors from established and emerging art centres including London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Lagos, Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Harare, Nairobi, Accra and Dubai are participating in CTAF 2017, which will take place the CTICC from 17 – 19 February, the fair will show a variety of sections dedicated to large-scale installations, emerging artists and online art platforms alongside talks, guided walkabouts, a digital media platform and outdoor activations that will ignite the nearby V&A Waterfront precinct.
The list of exhibitors includes galleries which represent the quality and multiplicity of the thriving contemporary African art scene such as: STEVENSON (Cape Town; Johannesburg), Goodman Gallery (Cape Town; Johannesburg), Galerie Cecile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Ivory Coast), Blank Projects (Cape Town), SMAC Gallery (Cape Town; Johannesburg), Gallery 1957 (Accra, Ghana), Addis Fine Art (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), BLOOM Art Lagos (Nigeria), Everard Read (Cape Town; Johannesburg),and GalleryMOMO (Cape Town and Johannesburg), among others.
CTAF 2017 has attracted the highest number of applications in the Fair’s history, from local and international galleries. More than 20 international galleries are part of the 2017 selection, which includes galleries such as Galleria Massimo Minini (Brescia), Primo Marella Gallery (Milan) and Galleria Continua (San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins and Havana) from Italy; British galleries Tiwani Contemporary, October Gallery, TAFETA and Art First, all from London; plus Galerie Pascal Janssens (Gent, Belgium), Galerie Seippel (Cologne, Germany), ARTCO (Aachen, Germany), Galerie Caroline Smulders (Paris, France) and Sabrina Amrani (Madrid, Spain).
Totally ‘UNFRAMED’
Increasing in size and scope, CTAF 2017 will include a new section, UNFRAMED, dedicated to ambitious, large-scale works created by GalleryMOMO artist Mary Sibande, Everard Read artist Liza Grobler, and Katharien de Villiers and Michael Linders from up-and-coming gallery, SMITH. The works will be strongly interactive, encouraging fairgoers to enter into a more stimulating dialogue with contemporary art.
Curated ‘TOMORROWS/TODAY’
Returning to CTAF is the TOMORROWS/TODAY section, a curated cross-section of the most exciting emerging artists from Africa. Made up of solo presentations by artists including Serge Attukwei Clottey (Gallery 1957, Accra), Helen Teede (Showcase Gallery Dubai in collaboration with First Floor Gallery Harare), Jackie Karuti (Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi), Joël Andrianomearisoa (Sabrina Amrani, Madrid), Onyis Martin (ARTLabAfrica, Nairobi), Sandile Zulu (SMAC Gallery, Cape Town and Johannesburg) and others, TOMORROWS/TODAY is a bold prediction of the future of African artistic talent.
Digital Platforms/Magazines & Publications
DIGITAL PLATFORMS is a new addition to the Fair’s MAGAZINE & PUBLICATIONS section, intended to bring together the world’s most relevant voices in art journalism. Using a digital interface, fairgoers will be able to engage and interact with online art platforms including: Artnet and Contemporary And (C&) from Berlin; Africa Is A Country and True Africa from New York; Mousse Magazine from Milan; and Between 10 and 5 from Cape Town. Also at CTAF, in a physical booth as part of MAGAZINES & PUBLICATIONS, will be Chimurenga mag and Adjective magazine. Returning to CTAF are Art Times and Art Africa which will once again have a booth in MAGAZINES & PUBLICATIONS, as well as Artthrob, in the EDITIONS section with prints by local artists like Zanele Muholi, Candice Breitz and David Goldblatt.
Past/Modern
There’ll also be a PAST/MODERN section, displaying modern Southern African artists such as Robert Hodgins in Goodman Gallery’s booth, Alexis Preller and John Mohl presented by STEVENSON, Kevin Atkinson and Erik Laubscher by SMAC Gallery, and Cecil Skotnes and Edoardo Villa by WALL Gallery (Cape Town).
Check out the ‘Cultural Platforms’
In the CULTURAL PLATFORMS section of the fair, non-profit art institutions and initiatives will display their art collections. The non-commercial area will provide organisations including the AVA Gallery (Cape Town), Bag Factory (Johannesburg), and international exhibitors Espace Luande Arte (Luanda) and Village Unhu (Harare), with a showcase opportunity that will pique the interest of fairgoers, collectors and curators. LALELA, an organisation offering art education to at-risk youth, will be included in the section, as well as at a satellite venue in the V&A Waterfront where they will further engage with the public.
TALKS PROGRAMME
FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY
11h30 – 12h30 | Talk 1: Public-hearted, Public-minded: Building Art Collections for the Future Conversation between Alexandra Dodd (writer/critic) and Albie Sachs (instigator/co-creator of the Constitutional Court Art Collection).
12h30 – 14h00 | Talk 2: Investing in Art Discussion between Karen Milbourne (Smithsonian National Museum of African Art), Ernestine White (Iziko SA National Gallery), and Steven Kettle (Stonehage Fleming Art Management).
17h00 – 18h00 | Talk 3: The Pleasure and Pitfalls of Collecting Sean O’Toole (art critic and writer) in conversation with Piet Viljoen (founder/chair of RECM).
SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY
11h30 – 12h30 | Talk 4: “The Green Room” / New Approaches to Curatorial Practices in Africa and its Diaspora Presented by Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz (Associate Professor, Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT) and Andrew Lambrecht (Senior Lecturer, Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT).
12h30 – 14h00 | Talk 5: Curating Contemporary African Art Moderator: Moses Serubiri (independent curator – Uganda). Participants: Gabi Ngcobo (independent curator – South Africa), Elise Atangana (independent curator – France/Cameroon), and Sarah Rifky (independent curator – Lebanon).
15h00 – 16h00 | Talk 6: True Stories Tracy Murinik (art writer) in conversation with Candice Breitz (artist).
18h00 – 19h00 | Performance by Donna Kukama (performance artist)
SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY
12h00 – 13h30 | Talk 7: Breaking Barriers: (un)Changing Contemporary Art Space Moderator: Andile Magengelele (independent curator). Participants: Burning Museum, iQhiya, Dear Ribane 113, I See A Different You.
15h00 – 16h00 | Screening Programme Afro Promo #1 King Lady and portrait of myself as my father by Nora Chipaumire (Zimbabwe) Ga Bose Gangwe and Inzilo by Mohau Modisakeng (SA)
16h00 – 17h00 | Tomorrows/Today Young Artist Award present by CTAF curator Tumelo Mosaka
What: Cape Town Art Fair
Where: Cape Town International Convention Centre
When: 17 – 19 Feb
Tikets: R140 adults, R100 students/pensioners, R80 for under-12s
Info/Book: capetownartfair.co.za.
Follow: Twitter @ctartfair, Instagram @ct_artfair, www.facebook.com/CTArtFair/ #CTAF17
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