The Investec Cape Town Art Fair – ICTAF, the contemporary art fair that, after only a few years, is now positioned as the most important in the African continent (6500 sqm of exhibition space, 95 international exhibitors, 22,000 visitors and expected sales for 6 million euros for the 2018 edition), kicked off on 15 February through 18 February 2018, at the International Convention Centre of Cape Town, South Africa. The event is one of the highlights of Cape Town’s culture scene, attracting the world’s major galleries and most eminent art collectors, and in which Italy plays a leading role: the fair is organised by Fiera Milano Exhibitions Africa, a local spin-off of Fiera Milano S.p.A., and the Italian Consulate in Cape Town has been an institutional partner of the event for the last three years, the only non-South African institution (the others are major local museums).
This year in particular, the Italian Consulate was the main sponsor of the After Hours Hub, the Fair’s official side-event, an art and evening entertainment district (open from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m.) where visitors could not only admire more works of art but also chill out, socialise and make connections in the numerous bars and partner restaurants.
The heart of the After Hours Hub was Harboured, a video-art installation created by Italian and South African artists projected in three containers duly located in the area adjacent to Zeitz MOCAA, the new Museum of Contemporary Art Africa that was opened last September and is already considered to be the continent’s most important museum of visual arts.
Admission to Harboured, thanks to the sponsorship of the Italian Consulate, was free of charge. The installation was unveiled on 14 February at 7 p.m. at the presence of Italian Consul, Alfonso Tagliaferri, the Director of the ICTAF, Tumelo Mosaka, and the CEO of Fiera Milano Exhibitions Africa, Mariella Chieppa.
The initiative was rightfully part of the policy launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to promote Italian artists abroad but also Italy as the driver of Contemporary Art around the world, both through the Farnesina Collection of art and the Farnesina in the World of Art initiative.
