Afro art with digital flair

This year’s Investec Cape Town Art Fair explores how digital media affects art and everyday experience

THE seventh Investec Cape Town Art Fair (ICTAF) runs from February 1517 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, building on its presence with a formidable Afrointernational vibe as it showcases work from the continent and elsewhere.

There was a kerfuffle in some quarters late last year with the announcement of the shortlist of Britain’s prestigious Turner Prize. All the shortlisted artists’ work exhibited at Tate Britain was digitally generated. The winning work was filmed on an iPhone. Critics quipped that there were no paintings or sculptures in sight.

Adrian Searle, writing for The Guardian, said the exhibition was “one of the best and most demanding” in the event’s history.

Cape Town’s art fair is putting digital art in the spotlight on its Solo platform. Solo was inaugurated at last year’s ICTAF with the idea of foregrounding a theme. In 2018 the focus was on women in art. This year, the theme is “to explore the effects of the digital world’s artistic production and our lived realities”.

The theme has been broadly interpreted. Not all works have been digitally generated – there are photographs which portray a digital experience or digitally-generated art works (such as a digital installation).

These works have not been produced in a digital format but are reflections on digital works or our interaction with the digital in our landscape.

With the interest in digital expression and practice, we asked Solo 2019 curator Khanya Mashabela, why the ICTAF was not embracing digital face-on – as a medium in its own right.

Mashabela said: “We felt that it was more interesting to see how digital media was affecting all aspects of artistic production and everyday experience, rather than treating it as wholly isolated and separate from the rest of our lives. Artists haven’t stopped working with traditional media, even with the rise of digital media.

“Digital media itself is exciting in and of itself, but so are its effects on painting, sculpture, etc. It has made older media feel new in a variety of ways, which you’ll notice when you see the presentations at the fair. We also didn’t want to be overly restrictive. Art fairs are a different experience to museum or gallery exhibitions. We wanted to encourage proposals of many different kinds of work.”

One of the most vital platforms at the ICTAF is Tomorrows Today – which foregrounds the work of emerging or under-represented artists. Curator Tumelo Mosaka outlined what to expect for the 2019 edition.

“I am especially interested in artists who have a particular point of view that is both political and aesthetically evolving. This exhibition does not try to present a coherent theme, but rather aims to showcase a range of works contending with complexities arising from past legacies and present realities.

“Various works are included, from photography by Michael Cook from Australia, who re-stages images to examine colonial representations, to Medina Dugger from the US and Nigeria, who documents the hair culture in Nigeria as homage to JD ’Okhai Ojeikere, a renowned African photographer who documented women’s hairstyles in Nigeria for over 50 years.”

All the works on Solo and Tomorrows Today will be on sale. More than 100 galleries and exhibitors will be participating. There is an entrance fee but walkabouts, talks and performances are included. Tickets R110-R380. Book at www.computicket.com. Details at www.investeccapetownartfair.co.za

HORSEPOWERby artist Zyma Amien – Art First Gallery, London.

TABITA Rezaire’s Inner Fire – Goodman Gallery.

MEDINA Dugger – Art Twenty One gallery, Lagos.