Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation

Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation
Established2020
Location1 Durris Road
Forest Town
Johannesburg
Coordinates26°10′28″S 28°01′59″E / 26.1744°S 28.0330°E / -26.1744; 28.0330
TypeArt Museum
CuratorClive Kellner
Websitejcaf.org.za

The Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF) positions itself as “an academic research institute, a platform for museum exhibitions and an innovative technology laboratory”.[1] This non-collecting contemporary art foundation is located in Forest Town, Johannesburg, South Africa. JCAF is situated close to Johannesburg Zoo and the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. It opened in 2020 and is housed in a heritage site that underwent an extensive renovation to meet the needs of the foundation. The foundation focuses on exhibiting art and artists from the Global South.

History

The premises wherein the JCAF hold their museum exhibitions has a Johannesburg Heritage Foundation Blue Plaque[2] which recognizes the building as a heritage site. The building was previously an electrical tram shed that formed part of the tram network in Johannesburg between 1906 and 1961.[3] The former tram shed underwent a 3-year renovation to transform it into the foundation's physical home.[3] The foundation officially opened in 2020 with a lecture by the anthropologist, Arjun Appadurai.[3]

Exhibitions

JCAF’s exhibitions are themed, and visual, textual, aural, linguistic, spatial, and bio modalities are curated and arranged to offer innovative and creative programming. Each exhibition is accompanied by a journal that follows a structured research methodology.[4]

The inaugural exhibition, Contemporary Female Identities in the Global South, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually opened to the public in September 2020.[3] The exhibition featured renowned artists such as Bharti Kher, Wangechi Mutu, Nandipha Mntambo, Shirin Neshat and Berni Searle.[3] It was the first of three exhibitions, curated under the theme, Female Identities in the Global South.[3] The second exhibition, Liminal Identities in the Global South (2021), featured works by Searle, Jane Alexander, Lina Bo Bardi, Lygia Clark, Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq, Kapwani Kiwanga, Ana Mendieta, Lygia Pape and Sumayya Vally.[5] The final exhibition, Kahlo, Sher-Gil, Stern: Modernist Identities in the Global South opened in 2022, featuring works by Frida Kahlo, Amrita Sher-Gil and Irma Stern.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ https://jcaf.org.za/about-the-foundation/
  2. ^ "Johannesburg Contemporary Art Foundation | The Heritage Portal". www.theheritageportal.co.za. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
  3. ^ a b c d e f A new foundation that aims to change the way we engage with art Daily Maverick. 10 November 2020
  4. ^ "JCAF Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation". World Art Foundations. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  5. ^ What lies in between? Musings on the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation Mail & Guardian. 15 December 2021
  6. ^ Painting the other, painting the self — considering Frida Kahlo, Amrita Sher-Gil and Irma Stern in South Africa Daily Maverick. 4 December 2022
  7. ^ Museum brings together work by three larger-than-life woman painters: Kahlo, Sher-Gil and Stern Mail & Guardian. 12 December 2022