New Fair Brings Art World to Africa

JOHANNESBURG—A host of well-known names looks set to give the inaugural Joburg Art Fair, which launches on March 13 and runs through March 16, its requisite glitter. Simon Njami, the Paris-based curator who co-curated last year’s inaugural African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, will lend his credentials via a curated exhibition, while Cape Town–born Robin Rhode, a rising star on the New York art scene, is the fair’s featured artist. Marlene Dumas, who is also from Cape Town, is set to headline a promising fringe program.

“My intention is to create the single biggest collection of African contemporary art for sale, ever, in the world,” said organizer Ross Douglas. Although a relatively new name to the contemporary art scene, Douglas has over the past four years established a reputation for staging ambitious art events through his company Artlogic. In 2004 he projected a bouquet of William Kentridge’s stop-frame films at the launch of South Africa’s constitutional court, later touring the open-air event nationally and internationally, notably to New York and Venice. More recently, he produced an outdoor event with prominent conceptual artist Willem Boshoff and also oversaw a local tour of Kentridge’s version of Mozart’s Magic Flute.

A total of 24 galleries have committed to showing at the fair, which Douglas is billing as “the first African contemporary art fair ever.” The exhibitors come mostly from South Africa’s three major metropolitan regions—Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg—and include internationally recognized dealers like Johannesburg’s Goodman Gallery, which represents Kentridge and is an Art Basel stalwart, and Cape Town’s Michael Stevenson Gallery, whose debut at last year’s Armory Show was praised by New York Times critic Holland Cotter. With so many local galleries, the fair promises to offer a diverse showcase of post-apartheid art, with offerings ranging from an exhibition of African modernist painting, including work by Gerard Sekoto, to innovative photography (Rooke Gallery) and sculpture (Art on Paper and Bell-Roberts galleries).

But several international galleries also will be in attendance, including dealers from Egypt, France, Germany, Morocco, the U.K., Germany, and the U.S. Those scheduled to make the 13-hour flight from New York to Johannesburg include Chelsea dealers Jack Shainman and Perry Rubenstein, both of whom have significant interests in the South African scene. Shainman represents South African artists Claudette Schreuders and Zwelethu Mthethwa, while Rubenstein is widely credited with launching Rhode’s international career.

Rhode, whose hip performance and photographic work has catapulted him to international fame, left South Africa for Berlin in 2003; a year later he made his mark with an impressive debut at Rubenstein’s Chelsea space. In 2005, he was selected to show at the Venice Biennale and the Museum of Modern Art’s annual New Photography showcase. At Joburg, Gordon Schachat, a secretive South African collector with extensive holdings including works by painter Johannes Phokela and sculptor Wim Botha, will showcase his collection of Rhode’s recent photographic work, which was acquired via Rubenstein and has never been seen in South Africa. Rhode is also expected to show a site-specific installation and deliver a short lecture.

Another artist likely to garner attention this week is Dumas, who is exhibiting her first solo show in her native country at the Standard Bank Gallery. Dumas left South Africa in 1976 to pursue postgraduate art studies in Holland, but has been involved in the country’s art scene from abroad, sponsoring projects including a residency for young local artists. Rhode took part in the program before leaving for Berlin in 2003.

In addition to highlighting these star artists, the fair’s official program also includes a curated exhibition showcasing work by artists living in or otherwise affiliated with Africa—an attempt to open an insular local marketplace to work from elsewhere on the continent. Organized by Simon Njami and titled "As You Like It," the lineup numbers some 30 artists including Bili Bidjocka, a Paris-based Cameroonian artist previously selected by Njami to appear in his traveling show, "Africa Remix." Widely feted, this sprawling group exhibition opened in Düsseldorf in 2004 and subsequently traveled to Paris, London, Tokyo, and Johannesburg. Another Njami favorite, Tunisian photographer Mouna Karray, who contributed to Njami’s photographic biennale in Bamako, Mali, late last year, will also show; so will Egyptian video artist Amal Kenawy. South African Thando Mama, whose work was honored at the 2006 Dakar Biennale, is among the handful of South African artists selected by Njami.