Artlogic and First National Bank (FNB) present the seventh edition of the FNB Joburg Art Fair, which will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from 22-24 August 2014.

The FNB Joburg Art Fair is an international art fair in Johannesburg focused on contemporary art from the African continent and the diaspora. The 2014 event will see a strong focus on Nigeria; the FNB Art Prize; a dynamic Special Projects schedule; as well as the exhibits of 37 Galleries, Young Galleries and Art Platforms hailing from 8 different countries.

This year, Zimbabwe-based artists Portia Zvavahera has been awarded the prestigious FNB Art Prize, and will exhibit her winning work in a dedicated booth at the fair. Zvavahera, who represented Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale in 2013, received this Prize for a new body of paintings which continue exploring her deeply personal concerns with experiences of marriage, childbirth and parental love.

Find more information about Talks Programme + Book Launches 2014 here www.fnbjoburgartfair.co.za

This year’s Special Projects programme of curated shows include:

Dialogues with Masters: Visual Perspectives on Two Decades of Democracy Presented by Grolsch, which is curated by Thembinkosi Goniwe and invites ten contemporary artists to respond to seminal works of South African masters, and respond through their own practice in an exploration of meaning and entrenched modes of thinking. Participating artists include Georgina Gratrix, Blessing Ngobeni, Matshepo Matoba, Ziyanda Majozi, Asanda Kupa, Kanya Mehlo, Philiswa Lila, Themba Shibase, and Jill Trappler Sipho Hlati.

Fabricate: A Handspring Puppet Company Retrospective Presented by Rand Merchant Bank celebrates the company’s rich history of puppet and theatre making. “Viewers are encouraged to regard these well-travelled figures as fundamentally different from sculptures. Though apparently ‘dead’ now, they are in fact beings with active past lives – some going back decades. They have all travelled widely and have played their role as the ‘emotional prostheses’ of their puppeteers and their scriptwriters.” – Basil Jones, co-founder and exectuve producer of Handspring Puppet Company.

The Goethe Institut will present three projects at this year’s event: Peregrinate: Field Notes on Time Travel and Space, which features the work of three photographers: South Africans Thabiso Sekgala and Musa Nxumalo, and Kenyan Mimi Cherono Ng’ok. The exhibition explores the concept of photography as a common method of investigation, discovery and representation – an act of wandering undertaken by the photographer as traveller and explorer. Ponte City, the collaboration between South African photographer Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse which captures the iconic Johannesburg building, has culminated in a book which will be launched at this year’s fair. Just Ask!, a new publication edited by Simon Njami will be launched at the event. It is conceived as an introduction to contemporary African photography, and more broadly, a reflection of contemporary practice.

Working Title: Create, Curate, Collect: A Portrait in Three Parts Presented by Artlogic, which will see an artist (Megan Mace), a curator (Gabi Ncgobo) and a collector (Dawood Petersen) engage in a three-way conversation that will be screened at the event.

Lagos Photo Festival: Staging Reality, Documenting Fiction Presented by Pirelli, includes a selection of artists exhibited in this year’s upcoming edition of the LagosPhoto Festival. LagosPhoto is the first and only international arts festival of photography in Nigeria.

Anthea Moys: The Artist is Arm Wrestling, is a playful re-imagining of the Marina Abramovi? workThe Artist is Present (2010). She will challenge artists, security guards, curators, cleaners, volunteers, organizers and members of the general public to a test of strength, as she takes on all-comers in the ancient discipline of arm wrestling.

www.fnbjoburgartfair.co.za