FNB Art Joburg
08.09 - 10.09.2023
We are one week away from the opening of the 16th edition of FNB Art Joburg – South Africa’s longest running art fair – not to mention the impressive amount of activations taking place in the fair’s radius. Here are some of our editor’s picks of what to anticipate.
HUB
Gallery HUB is the main section of the fair where all the usual galleries will be showing their best and brightest. I’m excited about Sethembile Msezane’s relatively new series of work made from materials such as stretched mull, hairpieces, rainwater, flames, breath, snuff and air. This cosmically embodied relationship to canvas will be on display in BKhz’s booth. So too am I looking forward to monumental glazed ceramic sculptures by Frances Goodman at SMAC. Some of these bejeweled towers can be over two metres tall and, while size isn’t always a marker of quality, I cannot deny that Goodman is one of the only artists in SA working ceramics at this scale, rivaled only by Zizipho Poswa. Amy Rusch will be showing her works made from found plastic bags with Suburbia Contemporary. Together will Bella Kneymeyer, I think Rusch is the artist repurposing discarded materials most elegantly and effectively in South Africa today.
Then there are the SOLO booths, which are always a treat, an excuse for the eye to give pause amidst a barrage of images. Exhibiting soloists this year include Thonton Kabeya with Everard Read, Jabulani Dhlamini with Goodman, and Lakin Ogunbanwo with WHATIFTHEWORLD. MAX works – that is, large-scale works and installations – by Deborah Bell, Walter Oltmann, Serge Alain Nitegeka and Cameron Platter are sure to be a highlight.
LAB
This section highlights experimental and alternative gallery spaces from across the continent. A by-invitation-only curated by Kim Kandan and Aida Esi Hayfron-Benjamin, this section will features spaces from Douala (Annie Kadji Art Gallery), Lagos (16/16, O’DA Art Gallery, Wunika Mukan Gallery), Harare (Village Unhu), Gaborone (Ora Loapi) and Lusaka (Modzi Arts Gallery), as well as some of my home-grown favorites, Church Projects, EBONY/CURATED, Guns & Rain, Reservoir and Untitled. I’m particularly excited to see Vida Pamela Madighi-Oghu’s offering through Church; she is an artist to watch. So too am I excited for anything Inga Somdyala does; he has been on an upward trajectory since his solo debut at WHATIFTHEWORLD last year and, in Cape Town, his incredible sophomore presentation through Reservoir.
ETC
This is the section that features master print and publishing houses, where you will find your beloved ArtThrob. I’ll be sure to pick up Nolan Oswald Dennis’ new book Imagined New (or, what happens when History is a Catastrophe?) Volume I from iwalewabooks and a print by Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi from edition ~ verso, plus browse other offerings from A4, Artist Proof Studio, Atelier le Grand Village, Clarke’s Books and David Krut and Floodhouse.
ORG
“A representation of Africa’s seminal art institutions,” writes Madla Sibeko, “the fair’s ORG section looks to redefine how people engage with and organise around non-commercial organisations that were established for the good of the public.” Javett-UP will come up with a presentation, but what I’m most excited for is Exhibition Match’s revival of Kendell Geers’ Masked Ball. First shown in 2002 at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the work consists of 11 footballs, each covered in a latex mask of various presidents’ faces, that visitors are encouraged to kick around.
BMW ART GENERATION & OPEN CITY
FNB Art Joburg has made a concerted effort to develop public programming outside the fluorescent lights of the Sandton Convention Centre with several activations across the city of Johannesburg.
BMW Art Generation kicks off the Open City this weekend with talks, music, exhibitions, performances and open studios. On Saturday, be sure not to miss Lebohang Kganye’s walkabout of her solo exhibition in the morning, Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with William Kentridge in the afternoon, and Brother Moves On Saturday in the evening. On Sunday, two talks that look marvelous are ‘The Unerasable Archive’ with Azu Nwagbogu, Thuthuka Sibisi, Lebohang Kganye, Nolan Oswald Dennis and Ayana V. Jackson, plus ‘The Elusive Metropolis: Johannesburg withGreer Valley, Unathi Mkonto and Sechaba Maape, while Gregory Mqoma is offering two performances at the Centre for the Less Good Idea. See the full programme of events here.
Open City will take place over the course of 16+ days with exhibition openings, performances and more. I’m sad to have missed the opening of Soil Conversations, but the show is on view Tuesday–Sunday 9 am–5pm until 17 November. Curated by Nisha Merit and Yolanda Kaddu-Mulindwa in collaboration with Lindiwe Mngxitama at JAG, the exhibition features thoughtful work on soil as material by the likes of Lungiswa Gqunta, Mia Thom, Io Makandal, Natalie Paneng and more. Other exciting happenings on the docket include the opening of The Weight of a Kiss, Motlhoki Nono’s Ernest Cole Award Exhibition; the reprise of Exhibition Match, an artistic project/social initiative/football game organsied by Alexander Richards and Phokeng Setai; and an intervention by Yassine Balbzioui & Friends called An Ode to Punk. Full programme can be found here.