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BUSINESS ART
SOUTH AFRICAN
Nicky SmithMarch 25 (Bloomberg) -- The sale of the South Afri-can art collection of murdered gold mining magnateBrett Kebble may fetch the most ever paid for acollection of local works.The collection of 20th-century pieces may raise asmuch as 100 million rand ($11 million) when it goesunder the hammer on May 7, Graham Britz, director of sales of Graham’s Fine Art Gallery in Johan-nesburg, said in an interview today. The collectionincludes artists such as Irma Stern, J.H. Pierneef andalter Battiss.“People will still pay top dollar for top quality,” saidBritz. “There is a lot at stake. We’re aiming for arecord price paid for a South African painting. It willalso be a record for a collective body of works soldon South African soil in a single session.”Kebble, died in his car in Johannesburg in Septem-ber 2005 at the age of 41 after being shot sevenimes in what the main suspect for his murder hassaid was an “assisted suicide.” Since his death,JCI Ltd. and RandGold & Exploration Co. Ltd. havelodged a claim seeking 2 billion rand from his estate,saying he illegally sold assets during his tenure as
Chief Executive Ofcer of both companies.
During his 11-year gold mining career Kebble ledcompanies that created two of South Africa’s topfour gold producers, and began the developmentof South Deep, the world’s largest gold deposit. Healso helped lead the 1997 acquisition of a 35 percentstake in JCI from Anglo American Plc for $650 mil-lion, at the time the biggest attempt after apartheid toboost black ownership of South Africa’s economy.Top PricesThe collection of 133 items includes Stern’s“Woman Sewing Karos” and “Mother and Child,”Alexis Preller’s “Christ Head” and Maria MagdalenaLaubser’s “Portrait of an Old Woman with HeadScarf: Landscape in Background.” It also has piecesfrom Vladimir Tretchikoff, William Kentridge, J.E.A.Volschenk and Pieter Venning.The sale, for which a catalog will become availableApril 16, comes as the auction value increased for South African art this year.Strauss & Co. raised a record 38 million rand for South African art at an auction held March 8 inJohannesburg, including 7.15 million rand for Stern’sstill life portrait “Magnolias in an Earthenware Pot,”according to its Web site.“Brett knew his art and over the years he has col-lected quite valuable art,” Jack Rosewitz, deputychairman of Johannesburg-based Stephan Welz& Co. in Association with Sotheby’s, said in aninterview. “He had an enormous collection and SouthAfrican art is quite hot on the local market.”Missing ItemsLondon-based Bonhams last month achievedrecord prices for 12 South African artists, includingLaubser’s “Indian Girl With Poinsettias,” which soldfor 276,000 pounds ($402,546), beating pre-saleestimates of 100,000 pounds to 150,000 pounds,while a piece by Preller sold for more than double thehighest predicted amount, according its Web Site.Kebble’s Stern painting of “Woman Sewing Karos,” a1929 oil on canvas has been “conservatively valued”at between 5 million rand and 7 million rand, Britzsaid. The most ever paid for a Stern work was 7.39million rand for her 1946 piece “Congolese Woman”at a December 2007 Christie’s International Plcauction, which included the “hammer price” and extracharges, Britz said. Preller’s “Christ Head” has beenvalued between 2 million rand and 3 million rand,Britz said.
A team of forensic investigators is still trying to nd
as many as 15 items missing from the collection,Hans Klopper, the managing director of Independ-ent Corporate Recovery Advisors, said in a phoneinterview from Stellenbosch, South Africa. Klopper is winding down Kebble’s estate, which includes10 million rand of Kebble’s personal debts, such as
mortgages and car nance.
Galleries will be put on alert for the missing itemsand rewards may be offered if pieces are returned,he said. Kebble in 2003 started the Brett Kebble ArtAwards, which his family stopped after his death.The administrators are also “chasing approximately35 million rand to 40 million rand” missing from theestate, Klopper said. “These were things such asdonations and payments made at a time when hisestate was hopelessly insolvent.”http://www.bloomberg.com
Art Bank Joburg faces challenges
Michael Coulson
Halfway through the initial ve-year period in which it
was hoping to break even, the Jo’burg Metro’s strug-ling pioneer art bank is to adopt a new businessplan and move to a new location.The Canadian art bank on which Art Bank Joburg ismodeled took nine years to break even, and CEOAntoinette Murdoch admitted recently that this sort of ime horizon is probably more realistic. The JoburgMetro Council invested R5m in Art Bank Joburg, of which R3.1m has been spent on art works. Accordingo Joburg cultural supremo Steven Sack, a councilreport, which has not yet been publicly released,estimates that another R4.5m is needed to make the
body self-sufcient.
So far, the art bank has acquired 30 clients, of which60% are public-sector (mostly municipal) and thebalance private-sector. It owns 1 090 art works by90 individualartists with a total value
of R3.1m. The average value of R2 830 reects the
bank’s remit to encourage developing artists, andSack points out that the maximum price the bankmay pay for a work is R15 000.They are hired out at 20% of market value, andrevalued every year, so this income should risegradually, but clearly not at a rate which will make theventure economic in the foreseeable future.Sack in fact would like to spend another R7m on art,taking the stock to R10m, which should make the
art bank protable but, he admits, will take several
years.He concedes that current tight economic conditionsare unpropitious for raising funds from the corporatesector, but has several creative ideas for gettingaround this. For example, a client may be preparedto buy art, donate it to the bank and display it in itsown premises, but only start to pay “rent” some yearslater. He reminded me that the arts White Paper recommended that the Department of Arts & Cultureset up a national art bank. It hasn’t done so (whichwill come as no surprise to cultural workers), whichcould make it possible for Art Bank Joburg to takeover this role.It’s also possible that the Metro Council could bepersuaded to supplement its original investment.
And, nally, when it can produce three years’ audited
accounts – which shouldn’t be that far away -- theart bank could apply for national lottery money.But the art bank is not sitting idly waiting for mannafrom heaven. As well as developing its existing activi-ties, it’s co-ordinating the commissioning of a largetribute to Walter and Albertina Sisulu that the MetroCouncil plans to erect in Loveday St in Braamfontein.This will be a major piece of public sculpture, for which there’s a budget for labour and materials of up to R600 000 – though not all of this has yet beenraised. The target date for completion is June thisyear, though this could be optimistic as it will requirea tight time scale and such projects trend to lagbehind schedule.The bank, which announced last year that it wasto move from Newtown to the old premises of theSandton Civic Gallery, is now to relocate to Spark,the old electricity sub-station in Norwood which hasseen sporadic success as an art gallery and craft
centre but has never really fullled the potential held
out by its attractive space.So it’s clear that the institution faces major challeng-es. If the new business plan doesn’t bring it closer tobreak-even fairly soon,one must wonder for how long the Metro Council – which doesn’t attach a high priority to the visualarts, judging by how the Joburg Art Gallery is starvedof resources – will be prepared to carry it.And there’s one last wild card in the pack. Murdochis widely tipped as a front-runner to succeed CliveKellner as curator of JAG. Should this happen,for all Sack’s commitment to the art bank, another unwelcome element of uncertainty would enter theequation.Michael CoulsonAfter a spate of poor to mediocre results both in SAand London, the latest two SA art auctions held bylong-established Stephan Welz/Sotheby’s (Swelco)and newcomer Strauss & Co and brought bet-ter results, in terms of the percentage of lots soldand prices compared to pre-sale estimates. Is thissustainable, or just a temporary rally in a bear market – a dead cat bounce, in stock market parlance?
Both rms are guardedly optimistic. Strauss’s
Stephan Welz says “My gut tells me that it can last,”
while Swelco’s ne art expert in Cape Town, Phillippa
Duncan, is even more positive. “Certainly it’s sustain-able,” she says. “People want to protect their artcollections, which they see as a major asset. If theycan’t get the price they want, they’ll simply hold onfor a less rainy day.”But there are reservations.Welz warns that “There’ll be serious problems at thelower end of the market, which will have to reorien-tate itself. Some artists’ work has been bought for social and political reasons more than artistic merit.“What you could call ‘calendar’ art may also facetough times. The market for [Johan] Oldert hasvirtually disappeared, while prices for, say, Gabriel de
Jongh have barely moved in the past ve years.”
Duncan stresses that quality will be vital. Both clearlyfeel that the fact that Bonham’s was left with 20 of the 27 Irma Sterns in its pre-Christmas sale had asmuch to do with their quality as with any weaknessin demand for the artist, though Welz (basking in thenear-record for Magnolias in his sale) does think thatshe may have peaked for now – as may Pierneef,and even Maggie Laubser.Peak prices may themselves give people pause, hesays. “They may think, why I should I spend R4m or whatever on a Stern when I can buy a very pleasantTerrence McCaw for R60 000-R80 000? Or, higher up the scale, a Hugo Naude?”But if the market as a whole is sustainable, whichsecond-liners or outsiders may narrow the gap withStern and Pierneef in the months ahead?Duncan is reluctant to be drawn. “It’s dangerousto be a tipster. People must start buying what theylike again. And despite the collapse of the marketfor contemporary art internationally, it’s becomingstronger locally.“However, contemporary artists must temper their often unrealistic expectations. It’s taken [William]Kentridge 20 years to reach his current status, andhe has every right to command the prices he does.But it’s problematical when newcomers think theycan expect the same.”Welz is more forthcoming – or foolhardy.“There’s a lot of room for Hugo Naude still. The
market loves his cheerful oral landscapes. Alexis
Preller could come in for a run, helped by the im-minent publication of an authoritative book on him(sponsored by Gordon Schachat). And there’s alwaysinterest in Maud Sumner. Two with a lot of steam leftin them are Freida Lock and Adolph Jentsch, thoughthey’re held back by a lack of supply.”Supply is crucial. “I thought that after gettingR1.4m for a Dorothy Kay [who many think is undulyneglected] we’d be inundated by her work, but wehaven’t been offered a thing! The good people of Port Elizabeth [where she lived and worked] either don’t follow the market or are inseparably attached totheir Kays.”I throw another PE name, a favourite of mine, athim: Fred Page. “He’s an amazing artist, but noteveryone’s idea of a pleasing picture. A book’s beingput together on him, too, though I hear they may belooking for sponsorship.”Recent interest in Tretchikoff, driven by one “totalaberration of a price”, he dismisses as speculativerather than from genuine collectors – though heinsists that, despite neither of Strauss’s Tretchis be-ing accorded a price in the post-sale list, he did sellone of them.Remarkably, neither Welz nor Duncan see the worldeconomic crisis as a major threat. Duncan reckonsthat the rich will still be buying quality paintings; Welz
adds that his rm’s clients – though he’s not specic,
this means traditional middle- and upper-incomewhites and the emerging black elite – haven’t beenhit by recession – yet. And he believes that, if Zim-
babwe is to be reconstructed, the knock-on benets
for SA will be substantial.He’s also encouraged by the breadth of buying at theStrauss sale. “There weren’t just one or two buyers,but a healthy spread.”Next big test, both agree, will be the Brett Kebblesale in May – but again with reservations. As Duncanputs it, she fears that Kebble often bought by name
rather than quality. Well, we’ll soon nd out.
Slain Gold Magnate’s art sale may fetch SA record
April 2009 | Supplement to The South African Art Times | To order and subscribe call 021 424 7733 | E-mail: subs@arttimes.co.za | Part of the Global Art Information Group
LATEST SOUTH AFRICA ART AUCTION MARKET UPDATE
Bidders do battle at Strauss & Co inaugural auction at The Johannesburg Country Club. Its March 9 maiden sale at the Jo’burg Country Club was about 87% sold, and grossed R37m, against the pre-sale estimate of between R30m-R40m.
02 BUSINESS ART | APRIL 09 ART PROFILES
Michael Coulson It’s ironic that one who worked so long to subvertapartheid now operates from a building that was
once the head ofce of that bastion of separate
development, the Johannesburg Housing Depart-
ment. On the ground oor, next to the lift that leadsup to Stephen Sack’s ofce, is a 1980s plaque com
-memorating that use, replete with old-era names likeVenter, Du Toit, Burger (a brace of them, in fact) andDu Toit. The building itself is somewhat older, andJohannesburg’s director of arts, culture and heritageoccupies a pleasantly old-fashioned, 1950s-type
spacious wood-panelled ofce.
Not that spacious implies uncluttered. The room isstacked with objects of art, prominent being the pro-posed maquettes for the sculpture of legendary jazzmuso Kippie Moeketsi it’s planned to erect outside are-opened Kippie’s. Sack’s father is the well-known architect MontySack, so he grew up in a creative environment. He
studied ne art, art history and art education at Wits
and Unisa, and worked for a while as a teacher, buthe made his name as curator of The NegelectedTradition.This revisionist historical survey of SA art, whichhe says converted him from a political activist to acultural activist, ran at the Jo’burg Art Gallery fromNovember 1988 to January 1989. Together withRicky Burnett’s Tributaries, it awakened white artlovers to the realisation that alongside the Pierneefs,ennings and Coetzers was a whole parallel worldof black artists, the Mohls, Pembas, Ngatanes andSekotos, of which they knew nothing -- or, at anyrate, next to nothing. Subsequently Sack curated a number of exhibitions,including the People’s Park Pace Building, seenin several SA museums and in Sweden, and TheAfrican Carousel, which he describes as a functionalmerry-go-round made by 10 artists for the Oliewen-hout museum in Bloemfontein, from 1994-1996. His
initial ve-year contract in Jo’burg expires at the end
of this year, though it may be renewed by mutualconsent. Sack says his directorate has been housed in anumber of municipal departments but seems to feelhat its present home within the department of com-munity development is appropriate. The department’smain mandate is to overcome social poverty, and thearts are a major tool in that effort. Sack points out that few cities in Africa, and indeedwithin SA, have a directorate like his. His brief naturally covers more than the visual arts.For instance, he says the city takes great pride in theachievements of the Jo’burg (previously Civic) Thea-re, and recognises the importance of arts, culture
and -- especially -- heritage -- more specically, the
heritage of the previously disadvantaged. But given the seemingly limitless demands on thepublic purse to provide far more basic services, howdoes a municipal authority justify spending money onwhat many see as luxuries, and what is its role in theprocess? He concedes that a municipality’s primary role is theprovision of basic infrastructural services. In culturalservices, it must be more of a catalyst, developingpartnerships with the community and private sector.The Jo’burg Theatre, for instance, receives a R15mannual grant and generates about R16m in box
ofce revenue, so in effect is a 50:50 public:private
partnership. And the planned new R60m theatre in Soweto hasbeen made possible by making building it a condi-tion of granting the rights to a major new propertydevelopment. In terms of the visual arts, he sees the role of thepublic sector as providing an enabling environment --buildings and staff. The institution must then developits own resources -- as, he says, Clive Kellner didat the Jo’burg Art Gallery, presenting exhibitions likeAfrica Remix. In effect, though, this means that Sack is basically afund-raiser -- as, he says, he was when he was work-ing in national government. “The important thing is the project, whatever it maybe. But we’re never fully budgeted at the start of theyear. We always have to work on keeping existing
partnerships going and nding new ones.”
Optimistically, Sack believes that, if you devise aviable project, sponsorship and funding generallyfall into place. Last year’s Africa Day, for instance,started with an R800 000 allocation but ended upwith R13m. “It can be a harrowing process, but by the end of theday if it’s a good project that excites people, spon-sors will generally emerge.” While this may have been true in more prosperoustimes, it will surely be a much bigger challenge in arecessionary phase. Companies are already cuttingback on arts spending as a “soft” way of makingeconomies. He points out that his is by no means the only direc-
torate that has to nd innovative sources of revenue,
citing the public:private partnership that’s redevelop-ing the old Paterson Park sports facility in Norwood,which is being extended to incorporate the old Spark!art space, new home of the Jo’burg Art Bank. There’s also potential to redeploy existing underusedassets. Here, he mentions the old mobile librarybuses, which the Transport Museum’s chief curator Peter Hall (son of John Hall, founder of the museum)is converting into mobile museums that will be takento poor communities all over the city. And a major achievement is the public art policy,whereby all infrastructure projects costing more thanR10m must agree to spend part of the budget -- ide-ally, 1% -- on art. This will apply, for instance, to allthe Bus Rapid Transit Stations, so will bring a lot of art to the old Townships. The Kippie Moeketsie statue is in fact part of thisinitiative. “We’ve created more public art in the past threeyears than in the entire previous history of the city.
And much of it commemorates political guresignored or vilied by the previous regime, like the
Sisulus.” To Sack, the art scene created space for a nonracialcommunity under apartheid, laying an important ba-sis for the new SA. Old-era institutions like JAG havealready started to shift to embrace black artists, blackaudiences and a progressive discourse. Whether herenews his contract or not, the pressure to use art
as a transformational inuence in society will clearly
continue.Antoinette Murdoch has had a long standing relation-ship with the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Recentlyappointed as the Chief Curator of JAG, Murdochwas smitten with the gallery when a maverick young
school mate took her there for the rst time on a date
during her matric year.“I fell in love with JAG at that moment” says Mur-doch. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the hapless chap! She describes standing in front of Penny Siopis’s Melancholia as her “eureka” moment,which led to a career of studying, practicing andmanaging visual art. Now, a mere 18 years later, shehas been appointed to the helm of the institution sherevered.“This position does not come up very often,” statesMurdoch.” With at least 5 year contracts, this sortof position is usually held for 8 years or more.” Sheexplained about her decision to apply for the post atthis relatively early point in her career.Murdoch’s contract is for 5 years.However at 36, Murdoch is certainly not one of thegallery’s youngest Chief Curators, as industry gossipseems to believe. She joins the esteemed companyof late Pat Senior who took the helm at aged in 1977(age 33), Christopher Till who was appointed to thepost in 1983 (age 32), Nel Erasmus (aged 36 at thestart of her tenure) and more recently, Clive Kelner,who was appointed at 36 in 2004..Undeterred by industry skepticism, Murdoch pointsout that the same critical analyses dogged her appointment as CEO of the Joburg Art Bank, anorganization she has managed for 3 years, from its
inception. It is signicant to note that during this pe
-riod, Murdoch had to navigate the institution throughsome very tough times, with operating funding cutoff suddenly in year three due to factors beyond her control, despite the original business plan to the con-trary. “It was either shut up shop or do other things tosurvive the period.” Says Murdoch.The Bank’s strategy of taking on projects anddiversifying their core tasks, although much criticizedand misunderstood by the industry, has seen the ArtBank generate operational budget that now ensuresits return to its core function this year.It is this sort of challenging experience that will stand
her in good stead for the task ahead of lling the
shoes, with her six 5 feet, left by previous Chief Curator, Clive Kellner.“Clive did a great job. He has done so much to re-vi-talise JAG, having inherited an organization that wasfraught with challenges, both internal and external”she says.“When Clive took over, that part of town was a no goarea, which presents a real problem if you are in thebusiness of attracting visitors to a public facility.”On a more personal note, Murdoch will surelyencounter some real challenges balancing her career as a practicing visual artist and that of Chief Curator of arguably the country’s foremost museum, andthe biggest gallery on the sub-continent. She won’t
be the rst senior art manager to pursue a career
as an artist in tandem, but she will certainly be themost watched one, for the moment. Murdoch isunequivocal however, citing her foremost goal in lifeis to ultimately only make art. However like all artists,“there are bills to pay and life to be lived until one cansustain oneself with art making alone.”“ I faced that choice early on” says Murdoch.” I couldeither work in an unrelated industry, or work wheremy knowledge and experience lies.”Murdoch, who does not take up the position until
the 1 April is hesitant to give any specic plans she
has, citing her desire to get to grips with the detailof the institution before committing herself publicly.She does however believe that the role of a museum
goes beyond the local scope. “It has a signicant
role in terms of how the South African art industryis viewed internationally and we should continue toengage in opportunities around leveraging JAG onan international platform”She expands on this by adding that while the role of the museum is to accumulate and safeguard SouthAfrican heritage through its acquisition policies, aless exploited role of the Museum should also beto showcase international artists to a local audi-ence, and hopes to consider bringing key artist’s toexhibit in South Africa. (This is however said with thedisclaimer that at present Murdoch is not in posses-sion of the budget nor detailed existing policies of theMuseum in this regard).In the meantime, South Africa’s art industry is watch-ing with interest to see if Murdoch’s love affair withJAG will become a successful marriage.Additional: For public interestThe Johannesburg Art Gallery operates in the follow-ing manner:Operational:It falls under the City of Johannesburg, with thedirector of Art Culture and Heritage Services as itsDirector. This position is currently held by StephenSack. Operating budgets are allocated by the city,and expenditure is approved by the COJ on therecommendation of the Chief Curator.Exhibitions:There is a Curatorial staff of 4Chief Curator, Curator: Contemporary Collections,Curator: Historical collections, Curator: SouthernAfrican Traditional African Art.Exhibitions are motivated by the Curator concernedand approved by the Chief Curator in consultationwith the Curator concerned.Acquisitions:An acquisitions committee, made up of the Chief Curator, the three curators listed above, independentmembers of the public (from all walks of life, from artprofessionals to others) and the gallery’s Registrar.The acquisitions committee is independent of theCity and draws its main funds from the Angle Ameri-can Centenary Trust Fund.Works bequeathed by individuals or organizationsmust also be approved by the acquisitions commit-tee.Additional project funding generated by sponsorshipsand The Friends activities are handled on a case bycase basis.People are drawn to become gallerists in manystrange ways. For Monna Mokoena, proprietor of Momo gallery in Johannesburg’s Parktown North, theearly inspiration was the glamorous locations of thefashion shoots and the articles on art in the fashionmagazines bought by his father, an itinerant seller of clothing on the mines.However, it wasn’t a straight line from there – itseldom is. After matriculating, he wanted to becomea lawyer specialising in musicians’ rights. There wasno such specialist course available, so after doing aBJuris at Fort Hare, rather than join a general legalpartnership he went into a successful partnershipselling air time for cell phones.That collapsed while he was away on a prolongedoverseas trip. On his return he sat down to make thehard decision on what he really wanted to be, andthat proved to be the crucial moment.He’d often visited the Everard Read Gallery, whichhe considered a great institution in a great space. Hepersuaded Mark Read to take him on, in effect as anunpaid intern, and spent two years there.“It was the best education in the world. I hold thepeople there, but especially Mark, in the highestregard. No just for the quality of the business, butalso for the gallery’s business ethic. I tried to modelmyself on how I saw Mark engaging with clients.They also educated me in the history of art.”After those two years it was time to move on, andMokoena set up as a private and corporate art
consultant. But he found that the rst question a
consultant is asked is, “Do you have a gallery?” Sothis led to the idea of establishing a space, and in2003 Momo opened its doors.Every gallery has to establish its niche, and Mokoe-na’s USP was to concentrate on contemporary art.He felt that no other gallery was doing this; eventhe Goodman was then only handling establishedartists (black and white), though it has become moreadventurous.Mokoena is often seen as the purveyor of art to theblack diamonds, but he stresses that his gallery
does not specically handle black artists. Indeed,
he wouldn’t want to be labeled like that. But it’sinevitable that the demographics of contemporary artshould correspond ever more closely to those of thepopulation at large.And Mokoena concedes that, whatever hangs onhis gallery’s walls, much of his business still consistsof dealing in the SA “masters”. He’s still active as aconsultant. At various times he’s advised the likes of the JSE, Nedcor, Vodacom, the IDC, Allan Gray andthe Gauteng legislature; however much such bodieswant to be seen to encourage new artists, they can’tignore the established names.And Mokoena the consultant has to wear a differenthat from Mokoena the gallerist. A corporate collectionhas to have a policy and identity that may not bethe same as the gallery’s. You must resist the urgeto favour your own artists and be true to the causeof building the collection, regardless of where yousource works.Though he’s reluctant to give away trade secrets,
Mokoena is condent that he’s built up a successful
business with its own individual way of working thatdoesn’t just replicate what his competitors are doing.That it’s a risky business, especially when he started,he doesn’t deny. All the more so, perhaps, in thathe has no institutional backing or wealthy individual
behind him. He may take all he prots, but he also
bears any losses in full.He’s had approaches from potential investors, but sofar that’s the way he wants it. “Of course, there maycome a time when I want to cash in my chips.”And he reckons the formula works. On the one side,young artists approach him for shows. On the other,his approach is becoming more global: he bringsforeign artists, often one with African links, to SA.“That’s the next wave: art must be a two-way street,”he says, and hints that his ultimate dream is to havea string of galleries – or associates – elsewhere inthe continent.But that may be some way away. He has no doubtthat the art market, though holding up reasonablywell, is suffering from the world economic crisis,and fears that the next six months will see casualtiesamong some of the newer, less solidly established,local galleries.But Momo, he says, is fortunate in that it has alreadybuilt an international image. It’s acting as curator for Culture France and its IFAS associate at the upcom-ing Johannesburg Art Fair, and also at Photo Beijing2009, in China.
“For us,” he says rmly, “there’ll be no change in
focus. The only change will be expansion.”
Director of The Momo Art Gallery, Johannesburg
Stephen Sack Antoinette Murdoch Monna Mokoena
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JOBURG ART FAIR 2009 APRIL 09 | BUSINESS ART 03
First published in The Mail and GuardianRoss DouglasThe second Joburg Art Fair will have its privateopening on April 2 for 1 500 invited guests. Thatsame day the G20 summit meets in London to agree
hat the world is in a nancial mess and to disagreeon how to x it.
But what has this to do with the second Joburg ArtFair?After successfully producing William Kentridge’sversion of Mozart’s Magic Flute in late 2007,Artlogic was able to secure sponsorship from FNB
o produce the rst art fair in Africa. The bank took
a bold gamble on a big event to be executed by asmall company that had never visited an art fair,let alone produced one. After visiting two of the bigEuropean fairs, Basel in Switzerland and Frieze inLondon, we started “reverse engineering” our veryown fair. Though the bank was bullish, much of theart community was not. Most galleries felt the localmarket was too small to warrant a fair and that thereal action was in London and New York. Some localart journalists felt that an art fair was too commercialand we would be better off with another Johannes-burg Biennale, even though this was never an optionbecause of the massive costs.Not one of the world’s 300-odd art fairs focuses oncontemporary art from Africa. Our intention with the
rst fair was to ll this gap. It’s not that easy. Without
allerists managing and promoting art, artists don’t
nd the market they need to sustain their careers.
As with so much talent from the continent, Europeand the United States provided the opportunities for African greats such as Owusu-Ankomah, El Anatsuiand, more recently, Romuald Hazoume to exhibit.Our solution last year was to commission SimonNjami, who captured the world’s imagination with hisAfrica Remix show and to a lesser extent the AfricaPavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale. He chosework mainly from younger artists starting to breakinto the international art scene. Njami’s selection of work, entitled As You Like It, attracted interest butdid not sell. By contrast, local galleries sold beyondour expectations. Between R25-million and R30-mil-lion passed hands, giving the local contemporary artmarket a major cash injection.In May last year we sat to plan the 2009 fair. Withthe absence of a biennale or any other perennialcontemporary art show in the country, there wasan opportunity for our fair to play a bigger role thanproviding only a market for art from the continent. Atthe same time art NGOs, foreign cultural institutionsand development organisations started to approachus, as they were looking for an event that was wellmanaged with high visitor numbers that they couldcontribute to.The result is that the 2009 fair has 26 galler-ies, much the same as last year, and 12 “specialprojects”, most of which are new. The GordonSchachat collection will host South African JaneAlexander’s Security, commissioned for the 27thSao Paolo Biennale and never seen before in her home country.The Gauteng provincial government provided thebudget to commission South Africa-born TumeloMosaka, who is now curator at the Krannert Art Mu-seum in Illinois, to select video art from the GlobalSouth for a show, titled Here and Now. The BMW arttalks taking place inside the fair host local speakers,including artists, curators and the Goethe Institute’sselected guests, Agnes Wegner and Thomas W Eller from Berlin’s Temporare Kunsthalle Museum.The fair has introduced design on a unique scale.Thirty-two of the country’s top designers have beencommissioned to make unique and unusual piecesas part of the Southern Guild initiative. Cultures-France is bringing out Encounters of Bamako, aselling photographic exhibition from the continentof Africa represented at the recent photographicBamako Biennale.We raised money from Siemensfor Funda, an art school in Soweto, to produce andsell its students’ work at the fair.Despite an impressive line-up for the second fair, we
were still missing one vital ingredient -- an inuential
international audience. The world’s top fairs host theworld’s top art personalities with all-expenses-paidpackages. We will never have the budget to hostthis set and, positioned on the tip of Africa, we areslightly out the loop of who the “taste-makers” are.Shortly after Damien Hirst’s Inside My HeadForever exhibition at Sotheby’s sold $200-million inSeptember, the contemporary art world went intofreefall. It is no surprise that New York and Londonbecame the contemporary art centres of the world. Aseemingly endless supply of easy-made cash fuelledan endless supply of ready-made art. When TheGuardian broke the story that Hirst was not renewingthe contracts of 17 of the 22 factory workers whomake his work, it was clear the party was over.A seemingly impossible international art market hasstarted to work in our favour. The contemporaryart world will not die. Buyers will go back to basicsand look for quality and value once again and are
prepared to travel to nd it.South African-born and
educated Mark Coetzee, who headed the Miami-based Rubell collection, was recently appointedprogramme director for Puma Vision and chief curator of Puma Creative. Wanting traction in Africa,he approached us to assist with the fair. We quickly
struck a deal whereby he ies and accommodates
50 curators, collectors and writers from Africa andabroad to attend the fair, giving us the audience wehave been sorely wanting.This year’s fair will showcase the work of more than400 artists and 32 designers from the continent,with the majority coming from South Africa. As theart world focuses more sharply on value, art fromAfrica will become of greater interest. To capitaliseon this opportunity we need to create art events thatlast long enough to become part of the internationalart calendar. The start and collapse of the Johan-nesburg Biennale and the stillbirth of Cape AfricaPlatform reinforce negative perceptions of Africa.The Joburg Art Fair has found an international audi-ence in its second year. With the ongoing support of FNB and secondary sponsors the fair will becomethe single most important meeting place for collec-tors, curators and writers and those curious aboutcontemporary art from the continent.Ross Douglas is the director of the Joburg Art Fair
PUMA brand experiments with the new, joining together creative spirits with major gures of the sports and fashion worlds – gures such as Usain Bolt and designer
Hussein Chalayan, now the creative director of the PUMA Sport Fashion collections, says Jochen Zeitz, Chairman and CEO of Puma. “We aim tobring together individual artists and cultural organizations, and provide them with a platform for creative exchange and international exposure. We are delighted to beable to express our PUMAVision through this collaboration with the Joburg Art Fair and Creative Africa Network. (Full press release to follow with details of theCreative Africa Network’s involvement in the Fair.)And here are some of the other highlights planned for this year:o The gordonschachatcollection will be presenting SECURITY, a unique installation by internationally acclaimed South African artist Jane Alexander, originallycommissioned for the 27th São Paulo Biennale. Also shown in Göteborg, Sweden in 2007, Security makes reference to forced and voluntary migration, land resourcesand attendant security.o In a joint initiative with Artlogic, this year’s event will also boast a stand featuring a selection of the best of contemporary South African furniture design speciallycu-rated by Trevyn and Julian McGowan of Source, a visionary local sourcing agent for the international retail market, including the Conran Shop in the UK and
Anthropologie, Urban Outtters and Terrain in the US. SOUTHERN GUILD is a the special collection of products being launched at the Art Fair that have beenselected, from a wide variety of disciplines, as the nest, most original, exciting pieces from the most interesting local talents. The collection will comprise entirely
new ‘one of a kind pieces’, limited editions as well as the launch of new lines.
o Junior art ends will have plenty to entertain them while their parents are perusing the art on display at the 26 gallery stands. ROOM 13 has a packed programme of
creative activities planned for children, from tie-dye and block printing workshops to self-portraiture classes and poetry sessions. See the full programme of Room 13activities attched here to plan your children’s Joburg Art Fair workshop schedule. The workhop fee is R80. If a school books more than three spaces, a discount of R30 per booking will be granted. (Pre-booking essential. Please visit our website to book.)o blank projects, an independent, artist-run exhibition space dedicated to new developments in contemporary South African Art, will be presenting BAD FORM:THINGS AND STUFF, curated by Kathryn Smith and Christian Nerf, with Francis Burger. Bad Form is a multifaceted project, of which the second phase, Things AndStuff is presented as a special project for the Joburg Art Fair. Bad Form is motivated by the need to document and reassess experimental practices in SouthAfrica from the 1960s to the present. This neglected history offers critical ways of understanding our contemporary art in relation to radical practices here and
elsewhere. ‘Bad form’ can be understood as referring to many things: in colloquial language, it refers to a fairly signicant social faux pas. In aesthetic terms, it couldrefer to something that is badly constructed, or not sufciently considered or resolved in formalist terms. But more than anything, ‘bad form’ is relative,
relational; it is culturally, socially or even historically conditioned by whoever is declaring what constitutes the ‘good’, whether in taste or form. Bad Formapproaches critical questions facing art from the perspective of art practice. Things and Stuff is about things revealing themselves incrementally, no bigannouncements. Shy art. Intractable art. Reticent things. Committed practice. blank projects was founded in Cape Town by Jonathan Garnham in 2005. Together withLiza Grobler and then Pierre Fouché, blank has hosted over sixty exhibitions to date by artists including Bianca Baldi, Ralph Borland, Katherine Bull, Julia RosaClark, Barend de Wet, Gimberg Nerf, the Gugulective, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Gabi Ngcobo, Peter Regli, James Webb and Ed Young.o The ARTIST PROOF STUDIO, a quality Art Education Centre that specialises in printmaking through a variety of diverse partnerships, will be marketing their high
quality original prints, created by over 80 APS students, graduates and professional artists. Their Pro Print Studio has one of the largest and nest
Takach etching presses in the country which has enabled them to edition the work of important South African artists such as Wim Botha, Diane Victor, William
Kentridge, Willem Boshoff and many others who enjoy the experience of working in an environment lled with passion, creativity, and professionalism. They hope
to attract new collectors as well as established and emerging artists to join the Studio and collaborate with their professional print technicians. Situated in theNewtown Cultural Precinct of inner city Johannesburg, the APS was established in response to a call by Nelson Mandela to all South Africans to participate in thebuilding of a new, democratic society that would promote reconciliation, cultural diversity, equality, and above all, a culture that celebrates human rights. APSprogrammes embody a strong commitment to the use of art in promoting positive social change and development. Their project partners include NGOs such asMen as Partners, Sonke Gender Justice Network, the Art Therapy Centre, Room 13, NOAH, Phumani Paper and others. The National Paper Prayers Campaigninvolves both rural and urban communities nationally in the promotion of AIDS awareness.o For the Screening Booth, Joburg-born Tumelo Mosaka has curated HERE AND NOW, a selection of moving image work from countries in the Global South.Mosaka was recently appointed Curator of Contemporary Art at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He was previously an
associate curator at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, where he organised the exhibition Innite Islands: Contemporary Caribbean Art, and was one of the
coordinating curators of ©Murakami.o CULTURESFRANCE, in collaboration with Gallery MOMO and the French Institute of South Africa, will be presenting a selection of African photography, entitledENCOUNTERS OF BAMAKO.o Siemens will be sponsoring a stand of selected art works by students at the legendary Sowetan arts and culture centre, FUNDA. There will be no shortage of op-portunities for on-site networking action at this year’s Fair with the presence of:o A designer READING BAR, with the best art and visual culture publications on offer by Boekehuis, Biblioteq and Clarke’s. Alexander Opper and Amir Livneh of the
young Johannesburg-based rm, Notion Architects (recently featured in Wallpaper magazine), have conceived of a city-inspired design for the reading bar that has at
its core ‘the celebration of the book as an object of beauty’.o A VIDA E CAFFE and LOUNGE BAR with designer drinks by Grolsch, Meerlust, Tokara and Pommery, and Kartell furniture from Twiice International, in the heart of all the networking and social action. So, once you’ve got your entry ticket, there’ll be no need to desert the main event in search of refreshment or some time out.Make sure you’re part of this year’s Joburg Art Fair, set to be the hippest cultural event unfolding in Jozi in 2009.For more information see www.joburgartfair.co.za or contact:Matthew McClure press@artlogic.co.za or +27 (0)11 482-445
Joburg Art Fair 09
WHATS ONJOBURG ART FAIR FLOOR PLAN
Jo’burg’s art value-mart
Photo: (detail) John HodgkissMikhael Subotzky, Michelle, Mallies household, Rustdene Township, 2008 (Goodman Gallery)
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