Investec Cape Town Art Fair on this weekend

Robyn Cohen|Published 7 years ago

EMPOWERING: Cape Town artist Lhola Amira will be exhibiting at the inaugural iteration of Solo. EMPOWERING: Cape Town artist Lhola Amira will be exhibiting at the inaugural iteration of Solo.

The Cape Town Art Fair - which has been re-named as The Investec Cape Town Art Fair (ICTAF) - is on from Friday, February 16 to Sunday February 18 between 11am and 7pm in the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

There is an entrance fee but once you are in, you are in: walkabouts, talks and performance art works are included with the ticket at no further charge. An exciting innovation this year is a new event: Harboured - in the Silo District, at V&A Waterfront. Films “exploring mythologies, ideologies and histories between safe and unsafe harbours” will be screened in shipping containers in the Silo precinct. There is no charge to attend.

Harboured is part of the The After Hours Hub - a platform of satellite events which are part of ICTAF but taking place off-site from the CTCC.

Harboured is also the headline attraction of the After Hours Hub and starts on the Wednesday before the fair (February 14 at 8pm). This is an art-inspired Valentine's Day date night. Harboured runs every day until the end of ICTAF on February 18, from 4pm-11pm.

Curator of Harboured is Brent Meistre. An artist and curator, he heads up Analogue Eye - a not-for-profit project which screens video art works in public spaces.

Meistre explained how Harboured will roll out: “There are a 13 works by 11 artists from South Africa and Italy.

"There are three containers and a range of works in each container. The short film format works will each have their own containers and the shorter length works will be screened consecutively in their own containers.

"The public are encouraged to move from one container to another, where different types of works may be engaged with. The Analogue Eye project is focused on getting filmic works into public spaces where the viewers not only engage the works but also each other.”

A film still of Bureaucracy of Angels by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. Picture: The Goodman Gallery

Nontobeko Ntombela has been appointed as the curator of the inaugural iteration of Solo, working alongside Fair Curator Tumelo Mosaka and the ICTAF team. Solo will focus on the production of women artists, offering different perspectives of the widespread socio-political issues faced by women in both public and private spheres, while also highlighting their contribution to the art world.

Artists who will be showcased in the section are Maïmouna Guerresi (Senegal/Italy) represented by Officine dell’Immagine (Milan, Italy); Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Botswana) represented by Tiwani Contemporary (London, United Kingdom); Stacey Gillian Abe (Uganda) represented by Afriart Gallery (Kampala, Uganda); Parul Thacker (India) represented by Amar Gallery (London, United Kingdom); Keyezua (Angola) represented by MOV’ART (Luanda, Angola); Lhola Amira (South Africa) represented by SMAC (Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa); Lucinda Mudge (South Africa) represented by Everard Read Circa Gallery (Cape Town, Johannesburg and Franschhoek, South Africa, London UK); Kimathi ct tottMafafo (South Africa) represented by Ebony/Curated (Cape Town, South Africa); Ingrid Bolton (South Africa) represented by Berman Contemporary (Johannesburg, South Africa); and Buhlebezwe Siwani (South Africa) represented by WHATIFTHEWORLD (Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa).

* It is free to attend Harboured but tickets to the Investec Cape Town Art Fair cost R165 and R120 for students, seniors and kids over 12. They cost R60 for under 12s. Book at www.computicket.com. For a chance to win one of three double tickets to the Art Fair, see Freebies in today's ToTT.