Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2018 Programme

Talks Programme

One of the highlights of ICTAF, the Talks Programme is a series of panel discussions by leading experts on a range of topics spanning the collection, curation and production of art, open to all fairgoers for attendance.

FRIDAY 16, FEBRUARY

12h00-13h00 | Talk 1
GIVING SPACE AND FOSTERING THE ARTS
From art collecting to establishing private museums and foundations, to backing young galleries and young artists, collectors across the globe aren’t just acquiring, they’re also interested in fostering growth across the arts landscape. Collecting art has become more than a side diversion and taken on a life of its own with collectors strategically leveraging their status and resources to support the increasingly vibrant art scene. Panelists will discuss the importance and challenges of shaping the cultural landscape through giving and collecting.

• Moderator: Riccarda Mandrini - Independent Art Journalist, Italy
• M.me Illa Ginette Donwahai - Founder, Donwahai Foundation, Ivory Coast
• Herman Steyn - Founder, Scheryn Collection, SA

14h00-15h00 | Talk 2
CURATING AS POLITIC
The growth of curating has profoundly changed allowing exhibition to be more discursive platform for discussion, critique and debate. Recently the word “curate” has become popular, used anytime when selection processes are involved. Regardless of this over usage, the real question is whether curating remains relevant? The discussion will focus on curating exhibitions as a practice.

• Moderator: Tumelo Mosaka - Fair Curator, ICTAF, SA
• Valerie Cassel Oliver - Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, US
• Gabriel Ritter - Curator and Head of Contemporary Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, US
• Tosha Grantham - Independent Curator, US

16h00 - 17h00 | Talk 3

BEYOND ART PRACTICE

Art makers have always aimed to do justice to the complexity of the world in which they live. They do this by making works of art that matter to the world in which they live. Such creative producers make compelling visual forms, which in turn, generate meaningful relationships between material objects and individual beholders. Relationships also form between individual beholders and groups of viewers, which can turn artistic practice into a form of social engagement. This conversation brings together artists who, in various ways, take their artistic practice to be a way of making meaning beyond, and through, the art object.

• Moderator: Raél Jero Salley -  Professor, Maryland Institute College of Art, US
• Penny Siopis - Artist and Honorary Professor, University of Cape Town, SA
• Jackie Karuti - Artist, Kenya
• Hasan Essop - Artist, SA

SATURDAY, 17 FEBRUARY

12h00-13h00 | Talk 4
PASSION INVESTMENTS, ART & CAPITAL CREATION
What does it mean to invest in art and what kinds of returns can one expect? Investment need not be contrary to passion. Investing in art is about investing in value. It can offer wide-ranging rewards, social, cultural, and financial - and of course, most of all, aesthetic pleasures also known as psychic returns. How does art create capital, in which forms, and why is it important to collect?

• Moderator: Alexia Walker - Partner, Walker Scott Art Advisory, SA
• Michelle Constant - CEO, Business and Arts South Africa, SA
• Jonathan Bloch - Investec Wealth & Investment, SA
• Samallie Kiyingi - Founder, Artnaka, UK

15h00-16h00 | Talk 5
BUILDING SUSTAINABLE ARTS INDUSTRIES
What role and value do Non-Profit Organizations and Artists Collectives play the arts industry? Many of these organizations have been vital when it comes to the development of young artists and the broader visual arts landscape. Several are often financially insecure, with limited funding and scares resources. What will it take to make them more sustainable and at what cost to their programming? What is the future of the non-profit organization and artists collectives in the visual arts?

• Moderator: Molemo Moiloa - Director, Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA), SA
• Ruzy Rusike - Head of Communications and Curator, the South African Foundation of Contemporary Art (SAFFCA), SA
• Meskerem Assegued - Founder, ZOMA Museum, Ethiopia
• Hildegard Titus - Artist, NJE Collective, Namibia
• Misheck Masamvu - Artist, Village Unhu Collective, Zimbabwe

SUNDAY, 18 FEBRUARY
12h00-13h00 | Talk 6
FROM NO FIXED PLACE
The panel will explore how notion of diaspora are sometimes limited to Euro-American histories but do not extend to the global South. The panel will examine how art works in the Solo Projects exhibition challenge and complicate notions of identity.

• Moderator: Nontobeko Ntombela - Guest Curator, ICTAF, SA
• Reshma Chhiba - Artist, SA
• Fabiana Lopes - Independent Curator, US

15h00-16h00 | Talk 7
LIVE ARTS, LIVING BEYOND ITS TIME

Live (or Performance) Art is a paradox. Transient and anarchic, live art lives inside of its time. Its form is derived from its essential character, which is to be disruptive or fleeting, anti-establishment and non-commercial. However, artists have difficulty in sustaining a career in performance because it is so ephemeral, and noncommercial. What then may be mechanisms that further its life? How and where do these exist? Have they been successful? And ultimately do they compromise the original intent of this disruptive, mercuric form?

• Moderator: Jay Pather - Director, Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) and Associate Professor, University of Cape Town, SA
• N’Gone Fall - Independent Curator, Senegal/France
• Khwezi Gule - Chief Curator, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, SA
• Jelili Atiku - Artist, Nigeria
• Panaibra Canda - Artist, Mozambique

The panel forms part of the Live Art Network Africa (LANA) symposium, hosted concurrently by Institute for Creative Art (ICA).

Walkabouts

Guided tours through the Fair, open to fairgoers, offering them a chance to see the Fair through the eyes of curators, academics, and artists.

THULILE GAMEDZE

FRIDAY, 16 FEBRUARY | 13h00-14h00
SATURDAY, 17 FEBRUARY | 13h00-14h00

Thulile Gamedze is an artist, writer, educator, and member of the collective iQhiya, based in Cape Town, South Africa. She is currently completing a Masters in Philosophy, which involves framing creative, experimental, and activist learning methodologies as urgent artistic and political
interventions. She has published in local and international art-based publications and catalogues as well as on a number of news platforms. Gamedze's practice, in all spheres of production, is concerned with education and collectivity, and the potential of collaborative knowledge production as the central strategy for liberation.

OLGA SPEAKES
FRIDAY, 16 FEBRUARY | 15h00-16h00
SUNDAY, 18 FEBRUARY | 15h00-16h00

Olga Speakes is a curator and art historian based in Cape Town. She has an Honours Degree in Curatorship and an MA in Art Historical Studies from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. Her particular areas of interest the art of Africa’s diaspora and projects and practices that rethink the relationships and boundaries between art and its publics.

ANDREW LAMPRECHT
SATURDAY, 17 FEBRUARY | 15h00-16h00
SUNDAY, 18 FEBRUARY | 13h00-14h00

Lamprecht is a curator, writer and academic based in Cape Town, South Africa. Lamprecht has taught academic subjects at the Michaelis School of Fine Art since 1998 where he established the Discourse of Art stream in 2001. Lamprecht is currently a senior lecturer and teaches both theoretical as well as practical subjects. He works actively as a curator and has worked on many local and international exhibitions.

Performances and Screenings

An exciting programme of performances and screenings by some of the Fair's exhibiting artists, taking place in the Talks Auditorium.

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, 16-17 FEBRUARY
16h00 | Kalá - Kalá 001

Performance by Januario Jano (Courtesy This Is Not A White Cube).

SATURDAY, 17 FEBRUARY
14h00 | THE INVITATION

Performance by Thania Petersen (Courtesy of Everard Read/CIRCA).