The Cape Town Art & Design Week opened in the V&A Waterfront last night, consisting of two dominant events: Cape Town Art Fair 2015; and the Guild International Design Fair.

I was annoyed in not receiving any upfront media releases about the Cape Town Art Fair 2015, as I had received in the past two years when Lana was the Wired PR Account Director for Cape Town Art Fair.  Even worse was that the PR poppie who ticked my name off the list could not give me any information about what to expect and where to find it.  Some brochures about the Cape Town Art Fair were lying on the table, but she did not proactively give me anything.  Astrid Stark from Wired PR was found, and she walked me through the start of the exhibition on the upstairs floor.  The venue is not as perfect as the BMW Pavilion in which the Cape Town Art Fair was held last year, or The Lookout venue for 2013, each of them having had a beginning and an end, be it in circular walkways, or a maze.  In The Avenue one has to make one’s way back to where one started, creating blockages when the venue is full.  What was not explained was that more than half of the artworks are in The Marquee near The Aquarium, one expecting refreshments to have been in that venue, but it was quite a distance away from The Avenue, and water was not available in both venues, Wade Bales handling the beverage service in both venues. There were no canapés at all, as had been offered in the two previous years.  I must commend Marion Ellis of Cape Insights, who is handling the VIP program, for giving me a brochure of the participating galleries, with details of the works of art they are exhibiting at the Cape Town Art Fair, which opens today and runs until Sunday.

A floorplan which Astrid gave me for my walkabout showed me where the participating art galleries were located across the two buildings:

*   In The Avenue one will find Johans Borman Fine Art (representing Walter Battiss, William Kentridge, and Cecil Skotnes, amongst others), Worldart, The South African Print Gallery (including work by Judith Mason), ARTLab Africa (from Nairobi), Barnard Gallery, Salon Ninety One Contemporary Art Collection, Sulger-Buel Lovell (from London), Fried Contemporary, Circle Art Agency, Erdmann Contemporary (artist Manfred Zylla was working on a
canvas while the exhibition was running) , Christopher Møller Art Gallery, and Biksady Gallery (from Hungary, representing artist Silard Isaak – see self-portrait below).

*   In the Marquee one will find the works represented by art galleries David Krut Projects (including artists Deborah Bell and William Kentridge), Brundyn +, Goodman Gallery (representing a collection of artists, including Brett Murray), Tiwani, Gallery MOMO, Stevenson, Artco Gallery (Norman Catherine one of the artists), Apalazzo Gallery (from Italy), Gallery Continua (from France), SMAC Gallery, Art First, Gallery AOP, Primo Marella, Everard Read Gallery (I loved the painting by Wayne Barker, entitled ID ‘the multi normal’ – main photograph above), blank projects, and WhatiftheWorld.

Other galleries listed in the Cape Town Design Fair 2015 brochure, but not visible on the Fair floorplan are Art First London, Commune.1, First Floor Gallery Harare, Lizamore & Associates, Omenka Gallery, and Primo Marella Gallery, (from Italy).  The beneficiaries of the Cape Town Art Fair 2015 are Lalela Project, Michaelis School of Fine Art, AVA Gallery, and The Friends of the South African National Gallery. A Talks Programme, addressed by artists, runs over the four days of the Cape Town Art Fair 2015.

In The Lookout in the V&A Waterfront is the Guild International Design Fair, with the following exhibitors: from Los Angeles R& Company exhibits The Haas Brothers who collaborated with local company Monkeybiz and Bronze Age Foundry;  David Wiseman; Carpenters Workshop showcases work by local Kendell Geers; Carwan Gallery features Mary-Lynn and Carlo Massoud working with ceramicist Andile Dyalvane; Peter Mabeo from Gaborone works with local designer Porky Hefer; and more.

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) – opens in the Grain Silo building in 2017.

A shuttle bus offers free transport between The Cape Town Art Fair 2015, and the Guild International Design Fair within the V&A Waterfront.

POSTSCRIPT 26/2:  Despite a promise by Wired PR’s Astrid to e-mail the media releases last night, we still have not received them!

Cape Town Art Fair, The Avenue and Marquee, near Aquarium, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.  Fiera Milano Exhibitions Africa.  www.fieramilano.co.za  www.capetownartfair.co.za Twitter: @CTArtFair Thursday 26 February – Sunday 1 March, 10h00 – 18h00.  R80.

Guild International Design Fair, The Lookout, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.  www.guilddesignfair.com  Thursday – Saturday 10h00 – 20h00, Sunday 10h00 – 18h00.  R80.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage  Facebook:  click here