Beyond being the biggest and best showcase of contemporary art from Africa and the world on the continent, this year Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Investec Cape Town Art Fair), which runs from 16 – 18 February 2024 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), offers visitors an especially rich array of special features, highlights and extras. Investec Cape Town Art Fair is in its 11th edition and to celebrate, we bring you 11 things that you simply cannot miss, including some fresh new additions to the line-up of events.

The theme for the curated sections of the 2024 edition of the fair is Unbound, aiming to break free from constrictive narratives and focus on emerging, diverse unbound voices as a catalyst for the creation of new possibilities. More than ever, Investec Cape Town Art Fair will celebrate the city of Cape Town, Unbound, offering visitors a programme packed with opportunities to explore the artistic life of the Mother City and experience its cultural institutions, meet the artists and interact with the creative community, gaining unprecedented insight into the South African and International art world.

Fabulous first-time features will join the lineup of favourite talks, walkabouts, parties, tours and opportunities to explore the Mother City’s art ecosystem, including the Yawa Off White Capsule and Lukhanyo Mdingi collab (the first of its kind at the fair), the brand-new focus on ceramics and GENERATIONS, a debut section featuring cross-generational dialogues between artists. For the first time, five emerging artists selected from twenty artists who have been through the City of Cape Town’s Emerging Artists Programme, will be represented by a dedicated booth curated by curator Igsaan Martin. Additionally, Bo Kaap is set to bind the city with an activation which speaks to the theme of Unbound.

Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2024 invites visitors to see how the Unbound theme is interpreted in 11 ways at the 11th edition of the largest contemporary art fair in Africa.

The 11 themes are:

1. Fired up
2. A new GENERATION
3. What’s the ALTernative?
4. Off the WALL
5. Global gathering
6. It’s a material world
7. Fashion Forward + Retail Therapy
8. Through the lens
9. Cultural connections
10. Bo-Kaap and beyond
11. Talks and walks

Growing a contemporary art ecosystem on the continent

Having celebrated its first decade this year, Investec Cape Town Art Fair is now well established as one of Cape Town’s key international attractions. The Fair is strategically positioned as the leading art event on the African continent, connecting contemporary art from Africa to the markets in Europe, the US, and the rest of the world. This means that the Fair offers a unique platform for emerging contemporary galleries, artists and ideas from markets outside of the traditional centres of art power and those from the African continent, to interact on an equal footing. With significant and growing international participation, the Fair is an important forum for setting curatorial and collecting trends to understand the African art market’s direction and growth.

The 2024 edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair will again bring together Africa’s leading galleries as well as cutting-edge galleries from Europe and the USA, offering an unparalleled opportunity to view and acquire high-quality, contemporary artworks. Visitors to the Fair can expect an extensive public programme both at the Fair as well as in and around the City of Cape Town.

Architectural and conceptual design for the Fair layout

The physical layout of the Fair takes advantage of Fair Director’s Laura Vincenti’s experience and expertise as an architect. It is laid out in blocks related to the curatorial concepts and thematics of the Fair and the artists being showcased, rather than in the more conventional rows of exhibiting booths. Each curated section that is of interest to visitors will therefore be in the same space for ease of access.

Extending the Fair’s reach into the city

Watch out too for Investec Cape Town Art Fair-related programming from all the leading Cape Town-based galleries, museums and institutions, who will open thought-provoking shows and host engaging programmes throughout the city over the period of the Fair. Among other events, there will be a major public art and urban intervention in the scenic inner-city area of the Bo-Kaap, as the city truly becomes one of the most attractive and interesting art destinations anywhere in the world.

Find out more about the themes and program:

investeccapetownartfair.co.za