February always brings a noticeable buzz to Cape Town’s creative landscape, as the annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair comes to town.
The largest contemporary art fair in Africa, the Investec Cape Town Art Fair – February 21-23, 2025 – sets up shop at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, attracting more than 30 000 artists, curators and enthusiasts who will fly in to discover works on display from over 120 exhibitors, including leading galleries from across five continents!
The 2025 Fair will also mark two exciting debuts, with French-born Céline Seror serving as exhibition curator and independent consultant to the SOLO section, while Cairo-based Egyptian curator, writer and researcher Heba El Kayal will curate the Generations section of the Fair.
This year’s Investec Cape Town Art Fair will also mark the inaugural attendance for two leading international galleries. Hunna Art from Kuwait City will be exhibiting works by artist Esam Ali, while LEESAYA from Tokyo will represent artists Akiko Ando, Bontaro Dokuyama, Shusuke Tanaka, and Tomohito Wakui.
And though the Convention centre is always the bustling hub and heart of the Fair, this gathering of creative minds also has an enormously beneficial spinoff for the city’s broader arts community.
In step with the main Fair comes a week-long arts extravaganza spread across the city, with a variety of venues offering guided art walks, engaging talks and insightful panel discussions with thought leaders, art market professionals and experts. It’s an ideal opportunity for art-lovers and arts professionals to tap into thought-provoking perspectives on the buoyant global market for contemporary African art, current trends in art collecting, as well as the themes and new directions being explored by continental creatives.
While the Investec Cape Town Art Fair is always a highlight of the city’s cultural calendar, Cape Town’s arts landscape is thriving throughout the year.
Another event worth marking in your diary arrives in early-November each year, with the annual ArtAngels Charity Art Auction. Hosted by Ellerman House, with exclusive accommodation packages on offer, the auction is a glamorous celebration of African creativity, with a remarkable collection of works from both established and ascendant South African artists going under the hammer each year.
And while it’s always a glamorous social occasion, the event also serves a more important function. Proceeds from the ArtAngels auction are used to support the vital work of two remarkable charity organisations. The primary beneficiary is Click Learning, a pioneering non-profit organisation partnering with under-resourced schools across four South African provinces, but a substantial portion of the proceeds from the auction are reinvested into the arts, providing bursaries through Ruth Prowse, the Blessing Ngobeni Art Prize, and Art School Africa.
Ellerman House is a hub for the arts year-round, with our on-site Art Gallery showcasing a variety of contemporary works drawn from the extensive Ellerman House private collection. In the gardens you’ll find at-scale works by many of South Africa’s leading sculptors, while the rooms, hallways and public areas of Ellerman House are filled with a captivating variety of artworks.
Guests are encouraged to spend some time poring over the diversity of creative expression, but for deeper insights into the artists on display, and their role in South Africa’s artistic canon, Ellerman House also offers complimentary art tours guided by our in-house curator.
Our curator and concierge are also on hand to help guests plan their artistic exploration of the Cape Town’s artistic landscape. Complimentary tickets to the remarkable Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa are offered to all guests, while bespoke tours of the city’s leading galleries and arts studios can be arranged.
