Investec Cape Town Art Fair, which takes place from 21 to 23 February 2025 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) has announced its exhibitors for the 12th edition of the fair and introduced its first highlights.
Dr Mariella Franzoni curator Tomorrows_Today, Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2025
The Investec Cape Town Art Fair remains the largest contemporary art fair on the African continent, featuring 124 exhibitors from across the globe, including top galleries from Europe and the US specialising in contemporary art.
For the first time, galleries from Tokyo, Kampala and Kuwait City are taking part in the fair.
The 2025 edition of the fair will feature 30 first-time exhibitors, the largest group of new galleries in the event's history.
More than half of the exhibitors are returning to the fair, drawn back by the vibrant energy of Cape Town with its dynamic art scene and reputation as the key art hub of the African continent.
Independent consultant and curator Céline Seror will take the reins of the SOLO section, while Egyptian curator, writer and researcher Heba El Kayal from Cairo will curate the Generations section.
A new section, Lookout, is dedicated to emerging galleries that have been operating for under five years.
The 2025 fair will also showcase the second iteration of its 'Cabinet' series: Cabinet/Trophy: Playing the Field, curated by Exhibition Match (Alexander Richards and Dr Phokeng Setai).
The fair continues to take art beyond the confines of the fair by activating Cape Town’s buzzing inner-city and surrounds through the Unbound City public programme, including an Art Fair Hub to enjoy after hours.
Each year, Investec Cape Town Art Fair attracts more than 30,000 art collectors and enthusiasts from around the globe to a showcase of the very best contemporary art from Africa and around the world.
The 2025 edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair welcomes more than 30 new exhibitors (including galleries from Europe, the US and other African countries outside of South Africa), including 11 new South African galleries.
“Interrogating the dynamics of experimentation, the 12th edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair: PLAY bases its thematic framework around play as action, play your role, play as curiosity, play as the inherent human desire to create,” says fair director Laura Vincenti. “Through PLAY, Investec Cape Town Art Fair offers a space where the boundaries between creator and viewer are fluid, and where art itself becomes a living, interactive experience. Rather than being a passive observation of aesthetic objects, play invites the audience to actively participate in the unfolding of ideas. This collaborative aspect of play redefines the roles of artist and viewer, transforming them into co-creators of meaning. The fair encourages engagement not only through the visual and conceptual, but also through the tactile, sensory, and emotional, allowing for a deeper connection between the work and its audience. In this context, art becomes a shared space where diverse perspectives intersect, challenge, and ultimately enrich the collective experience.”
She adds that the fair will once again extend well beyond the CTICC, where the main exhibition is held, into the city of Cape Town to include its leading galleries, museums and other cultural institutions in a region-wide week-long festival of art providing visitors with an opportunity to explore the city through its art and experience its richness as a cultural destination.
Art in Action: Programming and Events
Visitors to Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2025 can expect an extraordinary programme of events, talks and tours. Talks, conversations, guided art walks and panel discussions with thought leaders, art market professionals and experts on the world of contemporary art will provide invaluable insights and thought-provoking perspectives on the market for African art, collecting, current themes and new directions.
“We are pleased to welcome five independent curators to the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2025. The renowned curators overseeing the special sections include four newcomers and one returning curator,” says Vincenti.
French-born Céline Seror (now residing in The Netherlands) will bring her unique experience as an independent curator and consultant to the SOLO section.
Céline Seror - Curator SOLO section
Seror is the co-founder of prominent art platforms, including Intense Art Magazine, the first publication dedicated to women in art from Africa, and the print and digital platform The Art Momentum. Over the past decade, she has been dedicated to spotlighting new voices and narratives through various publications and artistic projects.
Heba El Kayal, a curator, writer and researcher from Cairo, Egypt, will curate the Generations section, a space where intergenerational conversations between both local and international emerging and established artists are showcased. El Kayal specialises in modern and contemporary art from the Middle East and North Africa.
Heba El Kayal - Curator Generations section
Over the course of her career, she has consulted for auction houses and private collectors, and speaks regularly on topics related to the preservation of artist estates, modern and contemporary Middle Eastern and African art, and the importance of institutional cross-collaboration on the African continent.
Investec Cape Town Art Fair also welcomes back Dr. Mariella Franzoni, who will once again lead the Tomorrows/Today section.
Additional programme highlights
Exhibition Match curators
The 2025 Fair will also feature the second interaction of the special project cabinet series, Cabinet/Trophy: Playing the Field’, curated by Exhibition Match (Alexander Richards and Dr Phokeng Setai). Richards and Setai founded Exhibition Match in 2022 – an artistic project and social intervention that includes an art-world football match and accompanying exhibition with the aim of making art accessible through football. Richards is a director at Stevenson and Setai recently joined Zeitz MoCAA as assistant curator.
The Lookout section – conceptualised as a space of discovery for emerging galleries – will return to provide a platform for young, art project spaces where they can showcase their artists without the commercial necessities or constraints usually associated with art fairs.
Editions is a special section focusing on leading print galleries and workshops that specialise in prints, multiples, and editions.
Magazines and Publications showcases magazines, books, journals and catalogues presented by publishers from around the world with a focus on art, which in 2025 will host the likes of House & Leisure, The Manor, Your Luxury Africa, Art Times, Chimurenga, as well as Clarke’s Books in collaboration with Jonathan Ball Publication.
Connect cultural section featuring Norval Foundation, Zeitz MOCAA, Lalela, Western Cape Education Department, City of Cape Town.
Following a successful inaugural stand last year, appearing for the second year City of Cape Town Emerging Artists Programme will again be hosting a stand.
Participating International Galleries
16/16 (Lagos, Nigeria)
50 Golborne (London, United Kingdom)
Afriart Gallery (Kampala, Uganda)
AMG Projects (Lagos, Nigeria)
Anna Laudel (Bodrum and Istanbul, Turkey, Düsseldorf, Germany)
blue wind project (Sidi Bou Saïd, Tunisia)
Bode (Berlin, Germany)
Borderlands Art (Kampala, Uganda)
Cellar Contemporary (Trento, Italy)
Dep Art Gallery (Milan, Italy)
First Floor Gallery Harare (Harare, Zimbabwe)
Galerie Caroline O'Breen (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Galerie Cécile Dufay (Paris, France)
Galerie EIGEN + ART (Leipzig, Berlin, Germany)
Galerie Eric Dupont (Paris, France)
GALERIE FARAH FAKHRI (Abidjan, Ivory Coast)
Galerie La La Lande (Paris, France)
Galerie Marion Chauvy (Paris, France)
Galleria Anna Marra (Rome, Italy)
Galleria Giovanni Bonelli (Milan and Pietrasanta, Italy)
Galleria Michela Rizzo (Venice, Italy)
Gallery Nosco (Brussels, Belgium)
Gregor Podnar (Vienna, Austria)
Gypsum Gallery (Cairo, Egypt)
Hunna Art (Kuwait City, Kuwait)
Jahmek Contemporary Art (Luanda, Angola)
Jonathan Carver Moore (San Francisco, United States of America)
kó (Lagos, Nigeria)
KWADRAT Galerie (Berlin, Germany)
LEESAYA (Tokyo, Japan)
LIS10 Gallery (Arezzo, Italy and Paris, France)
Lo Magno artecontemporanea (Modica, Italy)
LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Abidjan, Ivory Coast)
Malangatana Valente Ngwenya Foundation (Maputo, Mozambique)
OH Gallery (Dakar, Senegal)
Öktem Aykut (Istanbul, Turkey)
Reiners Contemporary Art (Marbella, Spain)
Samuel Maenhoudt Gallery (Knokke-Heist, Belgium)
Schönfeld Gallery (Brussels, Belgium)
SOTO Gallery (Lagos, Nigeria)
Spiaggia Libera (Paris, France)
Suburbia Contemporary (Granada, Spain)
TAM Gallery (Cairo, Egypt)
The Art Affair (Luanda, Angola)
The Bridge Gallery (Paris, France)
The Over (Barcelona, Spain)
The Project Room (Windhoek, Namibia)
tHEIR (London, United Kingdom)
THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE (Lisbon, Portugal)
Windsor Gallery (Lagos, Nigeria)
Participating Local Galleries
131 A Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa)
16 on Lerotholi (Cape Town, South Africa)
50ty50ty (Cape Town, South Africa)
99 Loop Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa)
Art Formes (Cape Town, South Africa)
Artist Proof Studio (Johannesburg, South Africa)
ArtThrob (Cape Town, South Africa)
artHARARE (Cape Town, South Africa)
Berman Contemporary (Johannesburg, South Africa)
BKhz (Johannesburg, South Africa)
blank (Cape Town, South Africa)
Candice Berman Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Christopher Moller Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Dale Sargent Fine Art (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Demo Projects (Cape Town, South Africa)
EBONY/CURATED (Cape Town,Franschhoek, South Africa)
Eclectica Contemporary (Cape Town, South Africa)
Eleven Editions (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Everard Read (Cape Town, Franschhoek, Johannesburg, South Africa and London, UK)
Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg, Cape Town, South Africa, London, UK and New York, USA)
Graham Contemporary (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Guns & Rain (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Kalashnikovv Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Lemkus Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa)
Locus (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Loft Editions (Cape Town, South Africa)
Occupying The Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Red Room Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa)
RESERVOIR (Cape Town, South Africa)
Riaan Bolt Antiques (Johannesburg, South Africa)
SMAC Gallery (Cape Town, Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Southern Guild (Cape Town, South Africa)
STEVENSON (Cape Town, Johannesburg, South Africa and Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
The Melrose Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa)
THK Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa)
Untitled (Cape Town, South Africa)
Vault Research (Cape Town, South Africa)
Vela Projects (Cape Town, South Africa)
WALL (Cape Town, South Africa)
WHATIFTHEWORLD (Cape Town, South Africa)
WORLDART (Cape Town, South Africa)
Tickets for Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2025 can be purchased Here.
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