Four things you must see at RMB Latitudes

RMB Latitudes Art Fair returns for its third edition at the baroque hideaway of Shepstone Gardens on Jozi’s East Side on May 21-25. It has a growing reputation for presenting a boutique, targeted fair with a focused interest on emerging artists and new collectors.

It is packed with things to do and see, from indoor and outdoor viewing experiences, an extensive talks programme, gourmet food, estate wine, and entertainment. Among all the hurly-burly, what should you look out for?

The fair will welcome 50 galleries and more than 300 artists, with an expanded presence from elsewhere in Africa.

International platform

The fair’s International platform is designed to offer an accessible means for galleries and artists on the continent and in the diaspora to show in SA — and this year has a special focus on Botswana.

The Botswana showcase brings together artists and art spaces from all over the country, in a mix of contemporary practices and trends, and more traditional, craft-based work.

Participating artists, curators, cultural practitioners and collectives include the TBP Artist Collective, The Space Botswana, ReCurate, Banana Club, Art Residency Centre Botswana (ARC), and an online collaboration with Ora Loapi.

They will present as a holistic project, weaving layers between their independent interests and a collective story.

Through the collaboration, the Latitudes team aims to explore for local audiences the depth and nuances of Botswana's largely unknown arts landscape.

The exhibition area for most of the Botswana exhibitors will be the mezzanine and rooftop areas of the delightful Shepstone Gardens venue.

Index independent artists

The fair has a regular section, Index (for Independent Exhibition), which is the flagship exhibition vehicle for Latitudes’ commitment to emerging and accessible contemporary art.

Curated this year by artist Bonolo Kavula, the Index exhibition will highlight abstract art, often incorporating textile and nontraditional materials, and is titled Invisible Thread. The special section offers a space dedicated to experimentation and new voices, with work in a range of mediums accessible to new collectors.

Art world legends on display

A special treat to look out for will be the curated special section Essay: Tracing Modernist Lineages, which brings together stoneware sculptures by one of the foremost SA ceramicists and sculptors, Amalie von Maltitz, with rarely seen charcoal drawings by one of SA’s most celebrated black modernist artists, Sydney Kumalo, better known for his bronze sculptures.

This section is a unique collaboration between Latitudes and Cape Town-based agency Peffers Fine Art, and will be housed in the atmospheric Cathedral space in the Shepstone Gardens venue

Shepstone Gardens

One unique aspect of the Latitudes Fair is its amazing venue at Shepstone Gardens, an event and conferencing venue on Linksfield Ridge on the East Side of Jozi.

It is a baroque jumble of indoor and outdoor buildings, balconies, stained glass, and stone staircases going up the side of the ridge.

At its centre is the Latitudes Centre for the Arts, which is the most conventional of the buildings here, and the closest to a traditional white cube gallery space. Latitudes runs its year-round programming here, but the fair engages all the Shepstone Gardens spaces, with plenty of room to sit down and relax with a glass of wine and a snack before wandering to take in more great art.

Tickets are on sale at www.latitudesartfair.com/tickets