Into the City, Inside the Art
The Joburg art scene’s growth in scale and variety over recent years has just about reached the point at which, happily, it can no longer be termed the art scene in the city, but a few scenes. This means that a full-weekend event showcasing the work of the city’s artists at “South Africa’s largest visual arts festival” is impressive in scope, and Open.Studios Joburg delivers a well-curated experience that’s inspiring rather than overwhelming, and inviting rather than intimidating.
Born from an idea by Sara Hallatt, the Director of the META foundation, Open Studios this year announced a new partnership with RMB Latitudes. Sharing the news, Open Studios explained that the partnership is aimed at, “celebrating the creative spirit of Joburg’s art world, fostering new relationships in the art world, connecting artists and galleries to buyers and the public, and creating new opportunities,” and emphasised that the events have a shared focus on access to market for their artists.
Sure enough, the Open.Studios route presented plenty of opportunities to buy the art on display, with surprisingly affordable pieces alongside those that were very much out of my own budget but, in my admittedly limited experience, surprisingly well-priced in comparison with what I’d have expected to see on the price tags next to similar pieces in a gallery. Work on display ranged from the traditional and technically impressive to the experimental and – to use an over-used term that those stickers could probably have saved me from if I had any left – thought-provoking. Seeing art in production is exciting, and with every work in progress it became a bit clearer why so many visitors join the event to get a peek at reference images, half-completed canvases, and equipment used to slice wood, polish marble and tackle other raw material.
It’s exciting to see some of Joburg’s industrial and corporate spaces now transformed into studios. Victoria Yards, which seems to keep producing more areas of studios and vegetable gardens to explore the longer you stay there, was our first stop. Charmingly, the welcome desk included a Nandos-sponsored booklet of stickers to give props to artists whose work appealed to you – a sweet way to enable engagement with art that’s genuinely affirming without needing the giver to think up a compliment that sounds smart, or cynical.
Next, we hopped on the shuttles that ran every quarter hour to see more art at more venues like Asisebenze Art Atelier, Ellis House, Living Artists Emporium, August House, and RMB Latitudes Art Fair.
If we’d been expecting an MTV Cribs-style, this-is-where-the-magic-happens tour of each studio, we’d have been disappointed, but part of the day’s uniqueness was seeing each artist’s personality reflected in how their studios were shown off. Some were eager to demonstrate their materials and methods, some were observant but almost absent as we explored for ourselves, and there was a full spectrum of approaches in-between. What they all had in common was talent and a brave, generous willingness to let us into the intriguing, intimate spaces where ideas are turned into art.
Words by Cayleigh Bright
Images by Youth Content Collective – Lethabo Moremi