The BMW Art Generation will return on 2 November 2024.
Centred around a conference of discourse and discursive essays within contemporary African art, this year the BMW Art Generation will take place at the Nirox Sculpture Park. Established in 2006, Nirox Sculpture Park is a generative space for artists, curators, writers and cultural practitioners to make and share in community. Sitting on 30ha, the park hosts several residencies, workshops, installations, open-air concerts, as well as a permanent sculpture park.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Purchase tickets here.
The BMW Art Generation’s Moments of Joy
A continuation of the theme Kinetics of Art & History, this edition expands what was established last year with a keen consideration on our current collective climate. Its premise supports The BMW Art Generation’s mandate to fortify the future of contemporary African art. Adjacent to the discourse, the conference will be surrounded by a selection of exhibitions, performance art, live music, food, coffee and wine stalls parallel to offerings from leaders in Africa’s design and fashion sectors.
– A talks programme with international headliners
– A luxury market offering the best in African food, wine, fashion and design
– An open-air live music featuring South Africa’s leading musicians
Towards Joy
A moment of intentional consideration, the second iteration of The BMW Art Generation is an invitation to exhale as we bear witness to the current moment. As Professor Angela Davis puts it, “I’ve seen revolutionary consciousness develop. It is through visual art, fictional literature, films, music and fashion that our deep emotions can be transformed.” Knowing this, The BMW Art Generation will dedicate a full day to unfolding the paradox that exists between creative representation and reality that engages art’s position in ethics, poetics and politics.
Marked by global social unrest, the current moment presents an opportunity to acknowledge the range of ways in which artistic practice continues to galvanise communities into transformative action. Following the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London documenting 183 conflicts, the highest during this 30-year-period, this call to gather in the name of culture is urgent.
Examined through a generative jouissance and intergenerational exchange, this edition of The BMW Art Generation acknowledges the societal role of art during the current geopolitical epoch. When things cannot be put into words, this is where we turn to art. Aware of the function community, joy and imagination play in addressing the status quo, the artistic practices we look to, in this edition of The BMW Art Generation, have historical and contemporary gravitas in continued and determined practices looking towards joy.
It is this very thing that Bessie Head speaks of, the one that urges us to run out into the sunlight and, upon turning back to see the dark where we have been, decide, “We are not going back there.” A means to foster resistance, reflection and an ongoing reimagining, the joy derived from this communal gathering underscores the transformative potential of the collectivism that The BMW Art Generation is centred on.
— conceptualised by Kim Kandan
The BMW Art Generation 2023 in Retrospect
Foregrounding an ethos that fosters a new generation in the contemporary African art ecosystem, The BMW Art Generation began the work of ensuring the transference of knowledge from one generation to another. Leading up to the second edition, we look back to the inauguration where culture thrived over 6 talks, 3 exhibitions, 4 open studios, 2 monumental performances, ten retailers and twenty leading contemporary art practitioners. Featuring field leaders, the weekend’s conversations went from artistic practices relevant to our ecosystem all the way through to collection as the reclamation of African agency.
Learn more about the first edition.