Joburg Art Fair
Encyclopedia
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
fair
Art fair
An art fair is a commercial exhibition that shows the work of artists or art dealers. Each entrant has to pay a fee.Art fairs are not to be confused with art exhibitions. Exhibitions are organised by curators....
held annually in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The first show took place from 13 to 16 March 2008. The second Joburg Art Fair is scheduled for 3 April to 5 April 2009.
The Joburg Art Fair which is sponsored by First National Bank aims to address the gap between prices attained by living African artists behind those from developed countries and Asian emerging markets. FNB's aim is to bring contemporary art to a broader, upper-income local market, including black business people with new-found wealth.
Joburg Art Fair 2008
The 2008 event, which was the first of its kind in Africa, included 22 galleries from AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, showing work by contemporary, predominantly African, artists.
The first Joburg Art Fair was held in the Sandton Convention Centre and covered a total area of 5000 square metres. The fair represented the single largest collection of African and South African contemporary art for sale thus far. The fair included notable African artists including Zwelethu Mthethwa
Zwelethu Mthethwa
Zwelethu Mthethwa is a South African painter and photographer.Mthethwa, a native of Durban, received his diplomas at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. He received a Fulbright Scholarship that allowed him to study at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he received...
, William Kentridge
William Kentridge
William Kentridge is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films. These are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two...
, Guy Tillim
Guy Tillim
Guy Tillim is a South African photographer known for his black and white and later digital work, mainly of third world Africa and often of war- and trouble-stricken areas....
, David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt
David Goldblatt is a South African photographer noted for his portrayal of South Africa during the period of apartheid and more recently that country's landscapes.-Life and work:...
, Peter Hugo, Minnette Vári
Minnette Vári
Minnette Vári is a South African artist known primarily for her video installations.Born in Pretoria, Vári studied fine arts at the University of Pretoria where she obtained her masters degree. She lives and works in Johannesburg.-See also:...
and Moshekwa Langa.
Participating Galleries included:
- JohannesburgJohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
: Goodman-galery, Everard Read-gallery, David Krut, Warren Siebrits, Art on Paper, Rooke-galery, Gallery Momo, Art Extra. - Cape TownCape TownCape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and Stellenbosch South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
: Joao Ferreira-gallery, Michael Stevenson, SMAC, Whatiftheworld, Bell Roberts. - CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
: Townhouse-gallery - RabatRabatRabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, MoroccoMoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
: L’Appartement 22 - Addis Abeba, EthiopiaEthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
: ASNI -gallery - StrasbourgStrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
: Gallery Ames d’Afrique - New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, USA: Jack Shainman, Perry Rubenstein - LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
: October GalleryOctober GalleryThe October Gallery is an art gallery based in central London, showing contemporary work from all cultures around the world.Since first opening its doors in 1978, the October Gallery has promoted the art and artists of the Transvangarde or trans-cultural avant-garde; work by artists who, whilst at...
The fair included a show curated by Simon Njami from artists throughout Africa who are not represented by galleries on the fair. Njami had previously acted as chief curator of the Africa Remix exhibition and the Africa pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
.
Joburg Art Fair 2009
The second Joburg Art Fair is scheduled for 3–5 April 2009. Twenty-four galleries will participate in the 2009 fair, including two new South African galleries (Afronova and iart) and four new international galleries (Seippel Gallery; Galerie Beatrice Binoche; Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos and Emerging World Art).The galleries that will take part in 2009 are: Gallery MOMO, Galerie Ames d’Afrique, Galerie Peter Herrmann, Goodman Gallery, David Krut Projects, Art on Paper Gallery, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Whatiftheworld, October Gallery, Seippel Gallery, Warren Siebrits, Michael Stevenson, Brodie/Stevenson, CCA Lagos, Everard Read, SMAC, KZNSA, Rooke Gallery, iArt, Erdmann Contemporary, Afronova, Townhouse Gallery, ARTCO, Galeriebeatricebinoche, Emerging World Art.
The Featured Artist for 2009 will be Jane Alexander exhibiting Security, an installation originally commissioned for the 27th São Paulo Biennale and hosted by the Gordon Schachat
Gordon Schachat
Gordon Schachat is a South African businessman and prominent art collector. He is featured regularly on the Sunday Times Rich List.-Personal life:...
collection. The fair will also include a screening booth featuring moving image work from countries in the Global South, a book lounge, and atist talks.