INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2020 Statement from Director, Laura Vincenti

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INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2020

Statement from Investec Cape Town Art Fair director, Laura Vincenti

For four years, I have played a leading role in the organisation of Investec Cape Town Art Fair, the largest contemporary art fair on the African continent, first as Fair Architect and then as Fair Director since 2017. In each edition, we have seen Investec Cape Town Art Fair go from strength to strength, growing in impact, quality and reputation. Offering a more intimate fair which matches global standards, we have attracted a number of high profile international exhibitors who are particularly excited to engage deeply in the local context during the upcoming 2020 edition. This attraction extends to our international collectors.

Each year they are exposed to artistic practices that feel fresh and exciting to an audience coming primarily from Europe and the United States. To give them as much access as possible to the local scene, we create a varied programme of visits to institutions and artists’ studios. This also allows us to strengthen our relationships with the local institutions that make Cape Town’s art scene so stimulating, including Zeitz MOCAA, Norval Foundation, A4 Arts Foundation, Iziko South African National Gallery, AVA Gallery, and Greatmore Studios.

In terms of our local galleries, we are very proud to see that the local galleries and the Fair have grown alongside each other. As Investec Cape Town Art Fair has become an internationallyrecognised event, the galleries that have exhibited at the Fair since its inception have sky-rocketed in their global reputations, placing their artists within leading museums and galleries around the world. This pride extends to our exhibiting galleries working outside of South Africa, within the African continent, who have contributed significantly to the representation of ‘contemporary African art’ as a complex, varied, and unique

part of the global scene. We look forward to expanding our representation of the region within the Fair in the coming edition.

With the ongoing support of Investec, and their insight into the fast-growing passion for art collecting that exists within their extraordinary client base, Investec Cape Town Art Fair will continue to evolve. In 2020, we look forward to the input of our newly appointed guest curators, Nkule Mabaso and Luigi Fassi in Tomorrows/Today, and Portia Malatjie in SOLO. Returning to the Fair as the curator of Cultural Platforms and the Talks Programme is Tumelo Mosaka (ICTAF Curator from 2017 to 2019). All of our curators have incredibly rich networks of artists, art professionals, and institutions from around the world, as well as a wealth of creativity and curatorial expertise which we believe will help to take the Fair to the next level. We also look forward to planning a programme of public-facing events which will take the Fair out of the convention centre and into the city, with the hope of making art more accessible to a wider audience.

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