Art Blog

New art fair for African art launches in September 2019

LATITUDES Art Fair joins the Johannesburg fair environment catering for contemporary art from Africa and will feature a curated selection of galleries, independant platforms, studios and special projects.

LATITUDES is an alternative fair designed to nurture exchange between artists, galleries, collectors, curators and researchers throughout Africa and the diasporas.

The 2019 exhibitors includes Afriart Gallery from Uganda, ARTCO from Germany, Centre for the Less Good Idea, David Krut Projects, Guns & Rain, The Artists' Press, TMRW Gallery, Warren Siebrits from South Africa, Gallery Tiny from USA, NJE from Namibia amongst many others.

The fair takes place at the Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg from 13 - 15 September 2019.

For the first edition of LATITUDES, exhibitors will be presenting within the following categories:

SOLO
Single artist presentations.

DUO
Two-person presentations.

TRIO
The work of three artists in conversation.

STUDIO
Editioned artworks produced through collaborations between artists and specialist technical studios.

CURATED PROGRAMMING

ESSAY

Each year the fair will present a focus section featuring the work of one established and one emerging artist. ESSAY is geared towards rarely-seen work by artists beginning their careers and overlooked masters.

INDEPENDENT

Independent is a curated exhibition of early career artists with no gallery representation. The objective of the annual exhibition is to introduce the works of unrepresented artists to galleries participating in LATITUDES. This section is by invitation, there are no costs to participate and LATITUDES takes no commission from the sale of artworks.

SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight is a curated selection of artists from Africa and the diasporas whose work is unknown or underrepresented outside of the regional contexts in which they or their galleries operate. Each artist is presented through a concise feature showcasing 3 works.

Curatorially, the Spotlight section allows a conversation between different artistic practices while giving due spatial specificity to each installation. Practically, this platform allows African galleries to explore relationships with the South African market without taking on the financial risk of a full exhibition stand at LATITUDES Art Fair.

EMERGING PAINTING INVITATIONAL PRIZE (EPI)

The fair is thrilled to host an annual solo exhibition by the winner of EPI in partnership with the Emerging African Art Galleries Association to support and recognise emerging painters living and working on the continent.

For more information, visit the LATITUDES website.