● Tickets to the fair are now available via Tixsa on FNB Art Joburg website artjoburg.com and in the bio sections of all FNB Art Joburg social media platforms.
● The gallery LAB pavilion will see West and East Africa connecting with the Sub-Saharan African region.
● Surrounding the fair, from 25 August to 9 September, Open City’s programme will open up the city with 15+ days of culture
As Africa’s leading and longest-running contemporary art fair, FNB Art Joburg’s mandate is to sustainably support and grow the continent’s contemporary art market. Following two years without a physical fair, FNB Art Joburg is returning to the Sandton Convention Centre, from 2 to 4 September 2022, to bring you the best from the continent’s contemporary art world. Tickets to the fair are now available via Tixsa on the FNB Art Joburg website artjoburg.com and in the bio sections of all FNB Art Joburg social media platforms.
Bonga Sebesho, Head of FNB Brand Experience says, “We are excited to continue our journey of empowering African artists through FNB Art Joburg. FNB’s 15-year involvement as a sponsor of the exhibition demonstrates our commitment to support the creative economy which is an important economic pillar to our economic recovery. Our continent is home to world-class talent and there’s no better platform than FNB Art Joburg to showcase this.”
Curated into six specialised sections— HUB, gallery LAB, MAX, ORG, AUX, ETC — FNB Art Joburg’s 2022 programming is all encompassing.
Referred to as the HUB, the fair’s central section presents the best in contemporary art from across the continent in line with the objective to be a quality rather than quantity focused fair. This year, FNB Art Joburg is proud to have the following galleries present Afriart Gallery, blank projects, Eclectica Contemporary, Everard Read, First Floor Gallery Harare, Gallery MOMO, Goodman Gallery, Guns & Rain, Kalashnikovv, SMAC Gallery, Stevenson, and WHATIFTHEWORLD.
The MAX section of the fair houses installations or works with challenging scale while the ETC section will give fair goers the opportunity to engage with master print and publishing houses.
The ORG section is a representation of Johannesburg’s seminal art institutions. Whether museums, universities, or private institutions, the section looks to redefine how the people engage with organisations that were established for the good of the public.
Spanning talks, public lectures and audio essays, the AUX section will explore a plethora of topics including magic realism as practice, biennale reflections, the role of arts writing, and art’s place in the metaverse.
Then, adjacent to the HUB, and looking to the future of contemporary African art, is gallery LAB. An incubation to develop emerging galleries and hybrid art spaces, gallery LAB will present and test new ideas and business models aimed at transforming the contemporary African art landscape. Co-curated by Kim Kandan (Gallery Liaison, FNB Art Joburg) and Aida Esi Hayfron-Benjamin (independence curator, Ghana), the LAB pavilion will see West and East Africa connecting with the Sub-Saharan African region. Exhibitors featured in gallery LAB include Bubblegum Club, Church Projects, Citizen Projects, Ebony Curated, Ora Loapi, Pacers Gallery, Modzi Art Gallery, Saint George Projects, Suburbia Contemporary and Village Unhu.
“There aren’t many lines of communication between us and that disconnect is not ignorance… As curators, gallerists, artists and people who put together fairs, it is our job to think about how to bridge that gap by facilitating connections through interventions like gallery LAB,” explains Hayfron-Benjamin.
Surrounding the in-person fair, from 25 August to 9 September, Open City’s programme will open up the city with a 15+ days programme of art, music, performance, food, and fashion across the city. Together with the three-day fair, Open City fulfills our quest for economic stimulation, inclusivity, and better access for all in how it encourages Johannesburg’s visitors and inhabitants to immerse themselves in Johannesburg’s rich and layered cultural offerings to the point where it becomes a part of their everyday.
Concluding, Managing Director of FNB Art Joburg, Mandla Sibeko says, “We are thrilled to be back with an in-person fair in 2022 while also expanding our culture footprint with 15 plus days of dynamic culture programming through Open City. As the first and longest running contemporary art fair on the continent, FNB Art Joburg continues to show active commitment to the arts and showcasing the dynamic talent that Joburg, South Africa and the continent has to offer,”
Below are five free Open City activations to look forward to.
1. The Demonstration – Opens 27 August
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) will host a 10-day series of art experiences. Titled The Demonstration, the series of events takes from The Smithsonian’s institutional-wide effort to explicitly address systemic racism and racial inequality. These experiences include an art exhibition, an art workshop conducted by curator Simon Njami, artist and curator-led tours, as well as a public conversation series. The Demonstration will be held at the Constitution Hill precinct, 11 Kotze Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001.
2. The Elusive Metropolis Vol II – Opens 25 August
For artists the city is often materially linked to their practice, making materiality an intersectional component to artistic production in Joburg. Materials, subject, and space are used by artists to make sense of their identity and place-making in the city. Challenging the reactionary prose attributed to the city by Achille Mbembe’ essays interrogating life in Africa’s economic and cultural hub, artists seek to address and reconcile life in Joburg. One of the city’s business districts, Rosebank will house The Elusive Afropolis group show at The Zone mall, 177 Oxford Road.
3. Walking graffiti tour – 27 August
Arguably the street art capital of sub-Saharan Africa, Johannesburg has a thriving graffiti scene. With new murals by local and international artists colouring the city’s walls often, Johannesburg serves as a canvas, constantly communicating with its inhabitants. Present particularly in downtown neighbourhoods like Braamfontein, Johannesburg in Your Pocket will facilitate a walking tour of the graffiti from Play Braamfontein on Juta Street to the mural on the walls of the Constitution Hill precinct.
4. Open Air – Opens 25 August
OPEN CITY aims to open up the art world by bringing accessible art experiences to the general public. OPEN AIR is our public art and installation programme where artists are invited to activate the city with their murals, sculptures, and installations in unexpected parts of the city. Blending performance, collage, video and installation, Natalie Paneng is a digital artist exploring-+ contemporary clown theatre to satirically interrogate the ways people navigate the virtual worlds they occupy. As a part of OPEN CITY her video work will light up Braamfontein. As a part of OPEN CITY her work will live at Play Braamfontein, 68 Juta Street.
6. InfluenZArt in Newtown – 2 September
InfluenZArt is a live art video art platform focussed on staging experimental performance works with local and international artists. For its first iteration, titled What’s The Point, the platform will present a series of short performances, live video projections and sound installations at the iconic Johannesburg venue, Carfax in Newtown. Curated by and including works by Nelisiwe Xaba, a renowed Joburg-based artist and choreographer, other artists presenting at this live art event include Joao Renato Orecchia, Kamogelo Molobye, Qondiswa James and Kwanele Finch Thusi. The performance will take place on 2 September at Carfax, 39 Gwigwi Mrwebi Street, Newtown, 2113.
More details on the Open City programme to follow.
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