Alongside the exhibitions and gallery presentations, FNB Art Joburg hosts a public programme that opens the fair up as a space of learning, exchange, and encounter. Through talks, performances, curator-led walkabouts, and book signings, the programme invites audiences to participate actively rather than observe passively. It is here that ideas are tested, practices are contextualised, and the voices shaping the ecosystem are brought into direct conversation with the public.
The public programme is central to what makes the fair more than a marketplace. It is a forum that insists on dialogue, on deepening engagement with the work on view, and on recognising art as part of wider cultural, social, and intellectual currents.
Walkabouts
Friday
13h30 Fair highlights tour – Boitumelo Tlhoaele
15h30 Fair highlights tour – Ashraf Jamal
Saturday
13h30 Fair highlights tour – Ashraf Jamal
15h30 Fair highlights tour – Gillian Fleishmann
Sunday
13h30 Fair highlights tour – Boitumelo Tlhoaele
15h30 Fair highlights tour – Gillian Fleishmann
The talks
Friday
12h30 | Curating otherwise: Speculating on tomorrow’s practices
Panelists: Wunika Mukan, Mbako Kago Moemise, Aza Mbovane. Moderated by Anastatia Nkhuna (iQhawe)
14h30 | On Santu Mofokeng
Panelists: Dr. Kenneth Montague, Ruth Seopedi Motau. Moderated by Lucia Concetta
16h30 | The Art of Dialogue: Living Archives, Memory and Practice
Panelists: Sam Nhelngethwa, Gillian Fleishmann. Moderated by Dr. Yvette Mutumba (Contemporary &)
Saturday
12h30 | New class of collecting
Panelists: Gail Bosch, Mandla Sibeko, Hamzeh Alfarahneh. Moderated by Mosa Molapo
14h30 | Globalisto: A Philosophy in Flux. Acts of an Imbizo
Panelists: Neo Matloga, Mzwandile Buthelezi. Moderated by Mo Laudi
16h30 | The museum in contemporary African contex
Panelists: Greer Valley, Bárbara Rousseaux, Paul Ninson. Moderated by Ngaire Blankenberg