The art ecosystem in South Africa is evolving in response to dramatic shifts in the needs of artists, curators, collectors and audiences. This year, five women came together to co-found a new art fair (LATITUDES Art Fair) in Johannesburg —Makgati Molebatsi, Lucy McGarry, Roberta Coci, Nokwazi Zimu and Anthea Kemp with the assistance of art media specialist and communications strategist Bronwyn Coppola. I had a conversation with one of the co-founders, Makgati Molebatsi, about her journey into the art-world, the fair and the art landscape locally (South Africa).

NM: Can you tell us about your journey into the art world, what do you do and how did you get here?

MM: It’s been a long journey which started with working as a volunteer during the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale in 1997, assisting with travel arrangements for international artists and invited guests. I developed an interest in art, which led to a passion. I started travelling for art; going to international biennales, visiting museums, exhibitions, galleries and art fairs locally and globally; among them Dakar Biennale in 2002, Documenta 11 in Kassel and Seville Biennale and Venice Biennale. I also started reading about art and acquiring works by emerging artists. All this led to my being invited to the board of Fordsburg Artist Studios (commonly known as The Bag Factory) in 2008. After attending the inauguration of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in 2013 and the second one in 2014, I made a decision to leave a 30-year career in Marketing and Communications and transition to a career in art. Soon after, I took up a course in Art & Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London Campus. On completion, I established my company; Mak’Dct Art Advisory & Agency.

NM: Can you tell us a bit about your company: Mak’Dct Art Advisory & Agency?

MM: We offer advisory services —focusing on contemporary art by African artists on the continent and in the diaspora. We provide guidance to individuals and corporates on the acquisition of artworks, collection management and valuations. We also service artists who are in the early stages of their careers, enhancing their careers and increasing their visibility.

NM: Can you tell us about LATITUDES Art Fair?

MM: LATITUDES Art Fair is a new platform for contemporary African art in international times – a niche-focused art fair that seeks to increase local art audiences and profile more African art. The fair aims to expand and strengthen these audiences and to create a richer understanding of African cultural production globally. It will bring together a curated selection of galleries, independent platforms, artisanal studios, and artists from the African continent and diaspora. It is developed in close conversation with several African galleries and sets out to serve the diverse needs in the contemporary art sector throughout the Majority World.

Our objective is to provide a meaningful and inclusive platform for every stakeholder that contributes to the broader art ecosystem —which is why we’ve called the fair LATITUDES. Our approach can be described as lateral or latitudinal, where new concepts are created by looking at things in novel ways. Whereas logical (‘vertical’) thinking carries a chosen idea forward, sideways (‘lateral’) thinking provokes fresh ideas and has the potential to change our shared frame of reference.

The inaugural edition of the LATITUDES Art Fair will take place in the Nelson Mandela Square (Sandton, Johannesburg) from 13 – 15 September 2019.

NM: How did LATITUDES Art Fair come about? Why another fair?

MM: It was born out of a collective vision and a widening hope that African artists could enjoy different and better conditions in the art world in South Africa and internationally. This vision was articulated by five women working in the South African art scene (myself and my four co-founders).

The foundation is initiated based on artists, curators, collectors, and art lovers who have felt for some time that the art market as it exists today, does not yet have a place for them. We’re working alongside brave colleagues and supporters who are all disrupting an incredibly powerful and dominant structure in their own ways. We are working to create an art fair that honours their pioneering spirit and helps to build an art scene in South Africa that is truly for everyone.

The month of September is dedicated to celebrating art in Johannesburg — people come from all over the world to participate. It is important to keep developing the offering in order to grow the audience and give them a compelling reason to return. LATITUDES Art Fair will bolster the city as a cultural destination and endorse the Arts Alive heritage and the successful work that FNB Art Joburg has done to increase awareness of and interest in Joburg as a centre for the arts.

We also turned to what is happening globally and realised that scale and diversity in the offering are important. For example, there are thirteen concurrent fairs that take place in Miami during Art Basel and seven in New York during Armory (a similar pattern presents itself at Frieze and 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair). It seems a natural step to expand on what is already taking place during art week; increasing activity while providing visitors with a world-class experience. We identified an opportunity to create a fair to fully represent the art community – especially when FNB Art Joburg decided to make their offering more focused and with fewer galleries. LATITUDES creates a wonderful parallel contribution to the celebrations over that weekend.

NM: Can you tell us about how LATITUDES Art Fair is differentiating itself, particularly paying attention to how it suits the needs of galleries, collectors, art dealers and the public?

MM: We don’t see it as different, we see it as complementary to art fairs happening in Joburg. LATITUDES Art Fair is extending the offering and experience. There is room for this kind of expansion.
If collectors can’t find what they are looking for at one fair, then they can go across to the other.

There is a plethora of outstanding artists with a rich cultural heritage reflected in the depth and breadth of the work they produce. After 11 years on the board of The Bag Factory, I have seen an increase in the number of artists operating at a professional level – not all of them can be absorbed by galleries. We are meeting the need for greater balance between supply and demand. The role of the gallery is still critical in the supply chain because they can provide the necessary full-service support for artists, however, there are just not enough galleries.
LATITUDES can provide support to these individual artists by exposing them to markets and bringing them into the conversation.

In terms of delivering a different experience for the public; after doing research with galleries around the continent, we’ve created a more flexible and dynamic model that will no doubt evolve and develop as we expand in size and reach. One of the many initiatives we have introduced is the option for galleries to showcase a concise presentation of three artworks by one artist within a section managed by fair staff (entitled SPOTLIGHT). This is intended for galleries outside South Africa to participate and have access to the market without having to shoulder the cost of a full booth. It also means that we can spread our representation further afield and collaborate with more and more galleries abroad.

LATITUDES combines the traditional core element of an art fair and exhibitor booths run by galleries, with a curated programme of talks, solo artist presentations, a contemporary art auction presented by our VIP partner, Strauss & Co and an audience development initiative entitled LATITUDES Limited in the form of a limited series of new artworks created by five artists in collaboration with David Krut Projects.

The same artists have collaborated with our luxury vehicle retailer, Daytona, to wrap five of their latest models from the Rolls Royce Ghost and Aston Martin Vanquish S to McLaren 650S. Visit the fair to see these vehicles unveiled. By working across modalities in this way, we are creating opportunities for something unexpected to arise—for unforeseen encounters between new collectors and new art dealers, and for networks to emerge organically across different constituencies in the art sector.

NM: Which artists are you personally excited about and why?

MM: So many….at a push, I will single out Sthenjwa Luthuli. His woodcuts painstakingly carve out intertwined figurative shapes in a monumental size. He completes them in vibrant colours which pull you in, enticing you to trace the patterns with your fingers. Labour intensive and beautiful.

The colour infused abstract figurative works by Wycliffe Mundopa. I first saw his artworks at the Zimbabwean gallery First Floor booth at the 2016 London Art Fair. They caught my attention then, and they still do today.

I am excited about the limited edition prints by the five artists and the collaboration with Daytona. Another instagrammable opportunity, and greater profiling for the artists and their artworks. This is an opportunity for acquisition not to be missed. Those artworks will live on in history.

NM: For any young people looking to collect art (as a form of investment), what do you think they should think about?

MM: They need to think about what engages and appeals to them first. Acquire to live with the artwork and familiarise yourself with the artist you have acquired – gain deeper knowledge of their genre and style. The investment comes later when you are familiar with an artist career trajectory and what creates value in their artworks. Once you are armed with this knowledge and information, you can start considering acquiring art as an investment. Otherwise, if a young person really wants to acquire art as an investment and has limited knowledge on how to go about it, they can seek professional art advise.

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Latitudes is an alternative fair for contemporary art from Africa designed to nurture exchange between artists, galleries, collectors, curators and researchers throughout Africa and the diasporas.

Launching in September 2019, and coinciding with the established FNB Art Joburg, LATITUDES will bring together a curated selection of galleries, independent platforms, artisanal studios, and artists from the African continent and diasporas. Developed in close conversation with several African galleries, the fair sets out to serve the diverse needs in the contemporary art sector throughout the Majority World.

According to the founding team, “By African, we mean anyone who has a meaningful connection to Africa and the diaspora, and by international, we mean the endless permutations of trans-geographic relationships – not the reinforcement of values entrenched in European and American economic centres.”

A new approach

Bringing together a curated selection of galleries, artists and independent spaces, LATITUDES offers a platform for the diverse art economies of the majority world.

Co-founded by Lucy MacGarry(curator of The South African Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale and former Curator of the FNB Joburg Art Fair), Makgati Molebatsi (board member of the Bag Factory Artists Studios in Johannesburg, mentorship provider within the visual arts sector and within the Business and Art South Africa (BASA) mentorship programme), Anthea Kemp (former director of Hordaland Kunstsenter, a leading contemporary art institution in Bergen, Norway, and prior to that was a PhD fellow in the Art History department at Columbia University in New York), Roberta Coci (former curator of large-scale events such as the Sanlam Handmade Contemporary Fair and the Winter Sculpture Fair), and Nokwazi Zimu (published academic author and holds an MA in Media Studies as well as an BA Honours degree), the fair takes a lateral and flexible approach to mediating and selling art, in which artists, galleries, independent curators, online entities, and institutions are regarded as equally viable applicants.

“We are living in a fast, challenging and globalized world. This context demands new strategies for making the art business attractive and more plural. As an emergent gallery from Angola, our expectations are related to our representativeness in an international context. We are excited to be part of this first edition of LATITUDES Art Fair and to work with their amazing team to create a richer, global understanding of African cultural production.”

This Is Not A White Cube Director, Sonia Ribeiro from Angola

The LATITUDES Committee is comprised of experts in the field. In the interests of impartiality, no gallerists are invited to the committee. Exhibitors are selected according to qualitative and conceptional criteria. The fair will take place on Nelson Mandela Square, Johannesburg, Sep 13, 14, 15 2019.

According to co-founder and Director of Business Development, Makgati Molebatsi, “The vision for the fair was articulated by five women working in the South African art scene. But the hope – which is really the backbone of this initiative – belongs to artists, curators, collectors, and art lovers who have felt for some time that the art market as it exists today does not yet have a place for them.”

24 exhibitors announced for the first edition

The fair will be welcoming 24 exhibitors from 9 different countries.

• Afriart Gallery, Uganda
• ARTCO, Germany
• Arte de Gema, Mozambique
• Artfundi, South Africa
• Artist Proof Studio, South Africa
• Centre for the Less Good Idea, South Africa 
• Dale Sargent Fine Art, South Africa
• David Krut Projects, South Africa 
• EBONY/CURATED, South Africa
• Emerging Painting Invitational Prize, Zimbabwe 
• First Floor Gallery Harare, Zimbabwe
• Gallery Tiny, USA
• Guns & Rain, South Africa
• Kalashnikovv Gallery, South Africa
• KZNSA Gallery, South Africa
• LL Editions, South Africa
• Strauss & Co, South Africa
• Suburbia Gallery,  Spain
• The Artists’ Press, South Africa
• The Melrose Gallery, South Africa
• This Is Not a White Cube, Angola
• TMRW Gallery, South Africa
• Warren Siebrits, South Africa
• Weekend Server, Norway

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.

Independant

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.

Latitudes LTD

In collaboration with David Krut Projects and their VIP partner Daytona, LATITUDES commissioned five artists to create unique small-edition silkscreen prints that will be available for purchase with a LATITUDES VIP LTD access package. These prints will form the basis of designs for skins for five Aston Martins that will be on display in proximity to the fair. VIP LTD Tickets (including a limited edition print) are available at R4000 each. Contact info@latitudesartfair.com to reserve yours.

Emerging Painting Invitantional Prize (EPI)

LATITUDES announced 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. The winner of the inaugural EPI is Mozambican artist Nelly Guambe.

Auction

In collaboration with the VIP partner Strauss & Co, LATITUDES will host the preview of Strauss & Co’s September contemporary art auction. Bidding will be available online. Proceeds of the auction will be donated to charity.

Latitudes Art Fair
13, 14, 15 September,2019.
First edition
Nelson Mandela Square, cnr Maude & 5th Streets, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa

Friday 11am-9pm
Saturday 10am-6pm
Sunday 10am-5pm
TICKETS
Book online here.

For more information please contact info@latitudesartfair.com

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