A platform where curatorial and commercial interventions meet, the fair is divided into six specialised sections: gallery HUB, gallery LAB, MAX, ETC, AUX, and ORG sections.
Referred to as gallery HUB, the fair’s central section presents the best in contemporary Africa art from across the continent and the world to reflect the fair’s objective to be a quality rather than quantity focused fair.
Adjacent to gallery 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.
The MAX section houses installations or works that would present a challenge if presented in the conventionally sized gallery booth.
Giving fair goers the opportunity to engage with master print and publishing houses, the ETC section offers an abundance of books, prints, catalogues and zines.
A representation of Johannesburg’s seminal art institutions, the ORG section looks to redefine how the public engages with organisations. Whether museums, universities or private institutions, the section is a hands-on approach to examine bodies that were established for the good of the public.
Spanning talks, screenings, public lectures and audio essays, the AUX section, sponsored by ITOO ArtInsure, brings industry leaders to the public to explore a plethora of topics impacting the contemporary art world. Beyond, but centred around the three-day fair, FNB Art Joburg remains committed to audience and collector development through an educational platform and immersive programming respectively known as ArtJoburg.com, the BMW Young Collectors Co., and Open City.
Suburbia Contemporary
Tumelo Mtimkhulu. Courtesy of Suburbia Contemporary.
Suburbia Contemporary is a hub of innovation, where visitors can explore the latest trends in art and witness the evolution of the art form firsthand. We believe that art has the power to transcend language and cultural barriers, and our gallery provides a platform for artists to share their stories and experiences with a global audience.
For more information, please visit Suburbia Contemporary.
David Krut Projects
Phumulani Ntuli, Coalition Effect, 2023. Mixed media collage, acrylic and transfer on canvas, 180 x 180cm. Courtesy of the artist and David Krut Projects.
David Krut Projects is pleased to present Phumulani Ntuli’s solo body of work titled ‘Kunanela iphuzu emafini / Echoes of the Point Cloud’. This project showcases Ntuli’s first series of intricate, unique works on paper made using an old-fashioned printing press at the David Krut Workshop in collaboration with Kim-Lee Loggenberg and large mixed media collages on canvas from the artist’s studio.
David Krut Projects has locations in Johannesburg and New York, and is an alternative arts institution dedicated to encouraging an awareness of careers in the arts and related literature media and promoting contemporary culture in a dynamic, collaborative environment.
For more information, please visit David Krut Projects.
Atelier le Grand Village
Diane Victor. Courtesy of Atelier le Grand Village.
Atelier le Grand Village is a printing studio in the hamlet of Le Grand Village in France. It specialises in stone lithography and aims to revive this art form by inviting artists from around the world to work there. The studio uses restored old lithography presses, and its’ focus is to create original stone lithographs printed by hand in limited editions. An active collaboration is encouraged between the artist and the lithographer whilst striving to push boundaries and create works of artistic excellence.
Atelier le Grand Village presents a manière noire stone lithograph triptych by Diane Victor, a regular visiting artist at the studio. In addition, a new book, published by Mare et Martin in France in collaboration with Atelier le Grand Village, will be available. The book covers selected works from her artistic career, including drawings, smoke drawings and prints.
For more information, please visit Atelier le Grand Village.
BKhz
Tatenda Chidora, Untitled, 2023. Photograph printed on Felix Schoeller True Fibre 310gsm, 80 x 100cm. Courtesy of the artist and BKhz.
BKhz Gallery was founded by eSwatini born artist, Banele Khoza. Started as a studio space for Banele to create and represent himself from, BKhz (the gallery) came to be when Banele acted on his desire to grant his contemporaries access to an exhibition space that would prioritise their holistic well-being as best as possible. The gallery continues to operate by the ethos of putting the needs, wants, and vision of the artist first.
Since its opening in August 2018, BKhz Gallery has hosted numerous group and solo exhibitions, showing works by emerging and established artists, in local (South African) and in international spaces. The team at BKhz works with intentions to better impact the gallery’s immediate community through: diversity in the selection of artists, deliberately foregrounding women artists, increasing the ease of accessibility to audiences, and providing visual and academic discourse.
For more information, please visit BKhz.
Wunika Mukan Gallery
Erin LeAnn Mitchell, Kum buba yali, Kum buba tambe, Amen, Amen. Sewn satin, cotton, sequins, acrylic, iridescent fringe, and canvas (tapestry), 198 x 118cm.
Wunika Mukan Gallery combines the works of four contemporary artists: London-based artist Adolphus Washington, Nigerian artist Chinezim Moghalu, US-based artist Erin LeAnn Mitchell, and Nigerian-American artist Nkechi Ebubedike.
Through this diverse selection of artists, the gallery aims to engage multicultural dialogues within the creative sphere of FNB Art Joburg 2023. The exhibition highlights the gallery’s role in uniting the contemporary art world by showcasing artists from different cultural backgrounds, age ranges, and educational foundations.
By presenting this group exhibition to the diverse audience of Johannesburg, Wunika Mukan Gallery aims to strengthen dialogue between viewers and artists about enduring questions of identity and difference. Participation in FNB Art Joburg 2023 provides a platform for the communal discovery of freedom and emotions and opportunities for diversity and lasting relationships between artists and audiences.
For more information, please visit Wunika Mukan Gallery.
O’DA
Ousmane Ba, Eros, 2023. Sumi, japanese pigment on washi (japanese pigment), 60 x 42cm. Courtesy of the artist and O’DA.
O’DA is a Contemporary Art Gallery based in Lagos, Nigeria. Established in 2021, it specialises in the work of Contemporary Art and design from across the African continent and its diaspora.
Bridging the gap between local and international audiences, the gallery is committed to championing mid-career and established artists whilst celebrating multi-faceted designers who explore a wide range of themes such as identity, technology, political commentary, social consciousness and environmental change.
For its debut at FNB Art Joburg, O’DA Art Gallery will present a booth exploring the ‘Unspoken Stories’ of the African Identity and the histories connected to our traditions addressed through the practice of Nigerian multidisciplinary artist, Isaac Emokpae, Duke Asidere & French visual artist, Ousmane Ba.
For more information, please visit O’DA.
CHURCH
Vida Madighi-Oghu, Genesis in light speed, 2021. Oil monotype painting on Fabriano, 170 x 170mm framed. Courtesy of the artist and CHURCH.
CHURCH is an unconventional art space of diminutive proportions in the Cape Town CBD, South Africa. Based in a Heritage Building with its interior reimagined, it forms part of the vibrant Church Street inner-city Art node.
CHURCH is focused on experimentation, innovation, and exploration within the Arts. It provides a platform for art interventions emphasising process rather than definitive outcomes. This is a platform to take risks, test boundaries, formulate new ideas, and elicit conversations that might not necessarily be accommodated in more conventional Art spaces. It is intended as a space that is regularly ‘turned over’ to give an opportunity to more voices within the Art community.
For more information, please visit CHURCH.
Eclectica Contemporary
Williams Chechet, Heavy Is The Head, 2020. Archival Giclée Print, 108 x 95cm. Courtesy of the artist and Eclectica Contemporary.
Nomadic societies long precede sedentary cultures – Routes precede Roots. Hybridity is normative, purity an illusion. By insisting on complex contact zones and exhibiting artists from all the vectors of Africa – North, South, East, West – this year’s FNB Art Joburg presentation highlights the ongoing interconnectivity of the African Continent. It is with this vital perspective in mind that the Cape Town-based gallery, Eclectica Contemporary, contributes to the ongoing connections, hybridity and creation of a visual language that is both cosmopolitan and local. Above all, it occupies a central place in the global imagination and underscores Africa’s vital significance as a contact zone – a rare alloy of sensibility and materiality.
For more information, please visit Eclectica Contemporary.
Guns & Rain
Adrian Fortuin, Orēsen (To Free Oneself): Remember That Your Nose is a Pyramid That Will Face the Sky, 2023. Oil paint, cotton and oil pastel on canvas, 220 x 140cm. Courtesy of the artist and Guns & Rain.
Guns & Rain works with contemporary visual artists from seven African countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini and Nigeria. Most of their artists are emerging and focus on social, political and historical themes.
The gallery was established in 2014 to address the under-representation of African artists in the international art scene. It was one of the first online galleries in Africa and was ahead of its time, with its first curated online exhibition taking place in 2015 in collaboration with WISER, Wits University. We now have a permanent space in Parkhurst, Johannesburg.
For more information, please visit Guns & Rain.
Open City
“Open City was born out of COVID-19. It was the fair’s response to how we can engage with communities around Joburg when we couldn’t congregate at the Santon Convention Centre,” explains FNB Art Joburg director Mandla Sibeko. “It really is about collaboration between the art, music, film, food and fashion industries to usher in Spring in Johannesburg. The 16+ days are really about the best cultural talent you can find in Johannesburg. More than anything, for us at FNB Art Joburg, it’s an educational tool and a way to coordinate the cultural landscape in the city Johannesburg being a culture capital on the continent calls for such organising.” The intentional home to FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg, represents the African continent’s love, tenacity, and irreverent energy. Artists, curators, and cultural policymakers living or visiting Johannesburg understand how it’s a city that speaks for the continent.
This is why FNB Art Joburg, the BMW Art Generation, and Open City are spread across the city. Our mandate is always to reignite engagement and investment so that we develop and protect the city as an incubator for contemporary art. For solo exhibitions, audiences can indulge in offerings that span Tavares Strachan’s first solo exhibition on the continent, Dada Khanyisa’s FNB Art Prize solo at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and a Frances Goodman presentation. On the group show front, Bkhz will be celebrating five years of the gallery while curator Kamogelo Walaza’s Senses opens at Goethe Institute. A first for Johannesburg, Exhibition Match will demonstrate and celebrate community building and collective participation in a soccer match between varying practitioners in the culture and contemporary African art space. And this is only a handful of what to expect.
For the full programme, please visit FNB Art Joburg.
