Feast your eyes on Cape Town’s fine art treasures
When:
Mon 21 – Sat 26 from 07h00 – 18h00
Where:
The glass wall cabinets at the Festival Hub
Cape Town has many wonderful art galleries that show the works of our talented photographers, sculptors, painters and printmakers. Infecting The City recognises that only a tiny percentage of our population visits these treasure houses where artists display their varied visions of the world.
The Festival has invited six local galleries to show their artists’ work to the general public. The Festival hopes this will encourage those who never enter art galleries to venture inside in future: everybody is welcome!
The Satellite Galleries are housed in two rows of wall cabinets at the Festival Hub. Two different galleries will be featured every two days.
Greatmore Studios
‘Art is a truly cultural treasure, changing with us as a society and offering us all a window to look to the future for inspiration or examine our past and present in detail for fresh perspectives,’ says Kate Tarrat Cross, director of Greatmore Studios.
Greatmore is a creative hub that prides itself on encouraging its artists-in-residence to participate in community outreach programmes, aiming to provide a greater understanding of the meaning and practice of art in those communities. ‘It’s with great solidarity that we support Infecting The City in its drive to bring art to street level,’ says Kate.
For the Festival the Studios will be showcasing a diverse, multifaceted selection of works from its expressive stable of local and visiting artists.
When: Monday and Tuesday
Michael Stevenson
Since its inception in 1990, the Michael Stevenson Gallery has gained a deserved reputation as one of South Africa’s leading contemporary galleries, having notched up the talents of artists as diverse as Zander Blom, Meshac Gaba, Nicholas Hlobo, Anton Kannemeyer and Zanele Muholi. Staying true to its innovative vision, the gallery has commissioned the MADEYOULOOK collective (made up of Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mokgotho) to produce work specifically for the Festival.
Says the gallery’s Joost Bosland, ‘It’s very exciting that MADEYOULOOK will be participating in this event, especially since their work challenges the existing boundaries between art spaces and public spaces.’
When: Monday and Tuesday
Heidi Erdmann
Although this gallery was launched (in 1999) with the aim of promoting contemporary comic art, it now represents sculptors, painters and printmakers. Says owner Heidi Erdmann of the gallery’s participation in the Festival, ‘I was very keen from the outset because it’s important to take artworks outside the comfort of the white cube.’
For the Festival she’s selected “three very different artists working in a wide range of media: sculptor Brendhan Dickerson, conceptualist Barbara Wildenboer and comic artist Karlien de Villiers.
When: Wednesday and Thursday
Joao Ferreira
Established in 1998, the Joao Ferreira Gallery has, from the offset, established itself as one of South Africa’s foremost contemporary art galleries and fine-art dealerships.
The Gallery aims to cultivate critical appreciation and stimulate discussion around visual art by regularly hosting new shows of work by contemporary artists. It showcases the works of diverse and experimental artists such as Araminta de Clermont, Egon Tania, Mark Hipper, Michael Taylor and Sanell Aggenbach.
When: Wednesday and Thursday
iArt
iArt Gallery, which displays works by some of South Africa’s most prominent contemporary artists alongside works by promising young talent, has always aimed to ‘maintain the highest possible artistic standards’. Director Johan du Plessis believes that public art events are more than just an opportunity to showcase a particular gallery’s artists; they’re a necessity. ‘Every person should, even from a very young age, be exposed to art; especially good art,’ he says. ‘We’re grabbing this opportunity with both hands and are hoping to expose the public at large – especially young people – to good art. This will hopefully lead to getting more people into galleries, which are often seen as somewhat elitist.’
For the Festival it will be exhibiting the works of six well-known young artists: Zwelethu Mthethwa, Matthew Hindley, Carla Leisching, John Walters, Beth Armstrong and Alex Emsley.
When: Friday and Saturday
WhatiftheWorld
Whatiftheworld proudly punts itself as ‘a destination point for curators and collectors to experience innovative work and become acquainted with some new names’. Included among these names are artists such as Avant Car Guard, Cameron Platter, Athi-Patra Ruga, Stuart Bird and Peter Eastman. No surprise, then, that in 2007 it was selected by London’s Contemporary magazine as one of the Top 50 Emerging Galleries from Around the World. Expect to see fresh and highly innovative art.
When: Friday and Saturday
