RMB TAF offers an all-encompassing cultural experience for visitors, with artisanal food and beverages, vibrant entertainment and an interactive public programme. RMB TAF differentiates itself from other South African art fairs through its accessible pricing strategy –  selling price of artworks generally falls between R1000 and R50 000, which presents opportunities to savvy investors and new buyers to extend their collections easily, and for new artists to thrive off this talent platform.

RMB Turbine Art Fair will present a series of  special projects for visitors to view during the Fair as well as a multidisciplinary public programme curated by Kefiloe Siwisa and Nomvuyo Horwitz – titled “The Year of the mirror” which will include performance art, music, screenings, masterclasses and a children’s programme, talks and walkabout series sponsored by RMB Private Bank.

The Year of the Mirror – RMB Turbine Art Fair Public Porgramme curated by Nomvuyo Horwitz and Kefiloe Siwisa

The RMB TAF Public Programme curators have sought to ignite wakeful practice, mindful reflections and (thought) activations on issues related to art production, critique, structures of education and sustainability, and models of the future in our contemporary (South) African context.  The talks and walkbaouts are offerd to the public for free and on a first come first serve basis.

RMB TAF TALKS – SPONSORED BY RMB PRIVATE BANK

The full list of talks, speakers panelists and talk times can be found on www.turbineartfair.co.za

• In Tongues: Translating curating

An  interactive masterclass, led by the curators and founders of Pool,  a platform for experimental curatorial and artistic production. Participants  will collectively  deconstruct and complicate the role of curatorial processes in shaping the future of  art and society

• Artist Talk: Between worlds

An intergenerational conversation with iconic artist Mmakgabo Mapula Helen Sebidi and curators Kefiloe Siwisa and Nomvuyo Hortwitz.

• Teach me all teach me nothing: Contemplating artist training

In the wake of radical educational reform movements, this panel will address the issue of artist training programmes. Focusing on formal and alternative methods of knowledge exchange, the panel will evaluate the shifting nature of educational models and the  impact they have on artists; their development, perspectives, production and prospects.

• The Oasis: Centering art platforms on the margins

A diverse range of art practitioners operating platforms ‘on the margins’ of the local and global art market will consider the capabilities and efficacies of creative hubs. How are these non-aligned spaces centering the margins, challenging the hierarchies of the ‘art world’ and  sustaining new creative constellations?

• We Began Before Words: Art writing and critique in South Africa

What is the role of art writing and critique where art and its experiences transcend langauge and literacy? What are the chosen languages of art discourse  and who is voicing them?  This session will focus on the relationship between the written word and visual culture, particularly in our African context.

• Master Printers: A printmaking masterclass with David Krut Studio

An interactive printmaking masterclass with David Krut Projects

• It was Given to me to Give to You: Art collecting & integenerational wealth creation

Art’s potential as a form of wealth creation and legacy building will be explored. Investment specialists and collectors will discuss how establishing an art collection can be an integral part of a robust investment portfolio.

• A Womxn’s Work: On sculpting and living

A conversation between leading sculptors on the processes, practices, challenges and glories of being a female sculptor in South Africa.

• Rear Window – Memories of Sekoto

A documentary on the life, work and legacy of Gerard Sekoto presented by the Gerard Sekoto Foundation

• Concerning Us: On collective sustainability

This panel will explore how artist collectives can be sustained and developed, against a trend of their rapid dissolution.  What is the value of collaboration and can collectives  withstand the fast-pace changes of the industry while maintaining their identities and ethos.

• When Things Fall Apart: Systematising ethics and empathy in the creative industry

Can structures of care and human-centred practices be systematised to adequately address inequality, exploitation, and collective anxieties within South Africa’s contemporary art sector. What are the ethics of contemporary creative practise and how are such policies being impemented?

• There are No Lines Here: Queering visibility and representation

The panelists in this discussion are all practicing artists whose works’ deal with the froughtness of identification and (self)representation. Using mythological fantasies, the virtual and speculative these artists are shaping aesthetic forms and narratives  that challenge binary identity politics.

• Billy Monk – Shot in the Dark

Billy Monk – Shot in the Dark is a celebration of a little-known slice of South Africa’s history. Billy Monk was a 1960s Cape Town legend whose black and white photographs of dockside nightlife reveal an underground South Africa, untouched by the division of apartheid. His own tragic story is equally as colourful.

• Breathing Space

The Nest Yoga Centre will lead a guided yoga and meditation session will focus on embodiment, breathing, and mindfulness.

RMB TAF WALKABOUTS  – Sponsored by RMB Private Bank

Daily walkabouts with art specialists and cultural enthusiasts will be hosted on a first come first served basis.  The full list of walkabouts will be on the website ahead of the Fair opening.

Imbali Visual Literacy Project – Children’s Programme

Imbali is committed to achieving and maintaining a leadership role in the arts, crafts and design education and training sector through upholding high standards of training and professional teacher development, emphasising quality, creativity and innovation in everything we do.

Children’s Walkouts with Alison Kearney
Friday               13:00 – 14:00
Saturday           12:00 – 13:00
Sunday 12:00 – 13:00

 VIDEO Screening – throughout TAF weekend.

 Mammmmmmmmywata Presents Life Solutions by Alberta Whittle.

The avatar of Mammmmyyyyywaaaata is based on the creolized, mythological figure of Mami Wata, as well as Yemanja in Brazil, mamlambo in South Africa and Maman de l’Eau in Trinidad.  Disrupting binaries of identity, Mammmmmyyyyywaaaata represents a hybrid identity, personifying a culture of mixedness,  encouraging us to get WOKE and decolonize from within.

Other Fair highlights include

• RMB Talent Unlocked is an emerging artist and curator mentorship program that started in 2014 under the name Fresh Produce. Assemblage, in collaboration with Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) and  RMB TurbineArt Fair, has coordinated a six-month intensive workshop programme funded by RMB for emergingartists that integrates practical art-making (focusing on process and conceptual development) with professionalpractice training. The objective of this comprehensive programme is to provide the selected participants withsupport and guidance to develop their work and, very importantly, with tools to sustain their art career oncethe programme is completed. Appropriate industry professionals are carefully selected to facilitate each workshop whilst sharing their knowledge and personal experience. The workshop programme culminates with a curated booth by Fulufhelo Mobadi at the RMB Turbine Art Fair. This is a unique opportunity for an emerging artist’s work to be viewedpublicly at a prestigious event.

• A Meeting of Minds: Louis Khehla Maqhubela and Douglas Portway Presented by Strauss & Co

Strauss & Co is proud to present the third in a series of museum-quality exhibitions (2017: JH Pierneef; 2018: Irma Stern) at the RMB Turbine Art Fair focusing this year on two prominent South African artists whose work has a great synergy: Louis Khehla Maqhubela and Douglas Portway met for the first time in St Ives, Cornwell, in 1967, after Maqhubela won the prestigious Artist of Fame and Promiseaward at the Adler Fielding Gallery in Johannesburg, which included the prize of a trip to Europe. It was a meeting of great minds: they were artistic kindred spirits in the true sense of the term. Both were already highly successful artists in their own rights, albeit having had very different entry points to their careers. The meeting impacted both artists’ thinking and the manner in which they painted subsequently. The aim of this exhibition is to examine the intersection of the work of these two artists, looking at their art training and early influences, and how their styles developed after they met.

• Market Photo Workshop alumni exhibition – As a school of photography, a gallery, and a project space, the Market Photo Workshop has played a pivotal role in the training of South Africa’s photographers, ensuring that visual literacy reaches neglected and marginalised parts of our society. Since it was founded in 1989 by world-renowned photographer David Goldblatt, the Photo Workshop has been an agent of change and representation, informing photographers, visual artists, educators, students and broader communities of trends, issues and debates in photography and visual culture.

Market Photo Workshop believes in progressive education that challenges traditional modes of thinking, continuously encouraging students to critically engage with the world around them.

• Dumisani Mabaso benefit exhibition – As an artist and printmaker, Dumisani’s life and work is inextricably linked to the history of South African Art. He was introduced to print making by his father who worked at a printing press and took his first art classes at the age of thirteen. He was fortunate to have had training at the Rorkes Drift Art Centre in KwaZulu Natal when access to fine arts was largely denied to black communities. It was here he learnt weaving skills and printmaking, which have formed an important part in our cultural heritage. Dumisani went on to teach and work at the Johannesburg Art foundation, managed by Bill Ainslie to encourage expressionsisn in art and where many of South Africa greatest artists started their careers.
• The Graduate Exhibition curated by Kefiloe Siwisa in collaboration with Maja Marx returns for a 5th year and draws huge attention from those who attend the Fair.  Visitors can expect to see the exciting work of graduates who have been handpicked from across South Africa. The Graduate Show presents a great opportunity to buy and start collecting some fabulous work of artists who are at the beginning of their artistic careers.
• Installations have always been an exciting part of the RMB Turbine Art Fair and 2019 will be no exception.The new space lends itself perfectly to installations and visitors will see the likes of Nkhensani Rihlampfu presented by M Studio Community and Jake Singer.
• You also look forward to an exhibition presented by the Gerard Sekoto Foundation.

Dates:            12 – 14 July 2019

Venue:          10 Fricker Rd Illovo, JHB

Tickets:          R120 via Webtickets or R150 at door

Weekend pass: R250 via webtickets or R300 at door

Children R100: 4 years & older Includes access to children’s arts area and children’s walkabout on a first come first serve basis

Students & Pensioners: R100 at door and R80 via Webtickets (Friday only)

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