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Introduction

The Art Business Conference is returning to Cape Town on 14 February.

For all those involved in buying, selling or caring for art, whether as a gallery owner, operations director, art advisor, studio manager, foundation, private collector, auctioneer or museum professional, this conference covers the key aspects of running an art business or collection.  

The conference will include two panel discussions and will be chaired by Riah Pryor, international art journalist for The Art Newspaper. 



Agenda

Wednesday 14 February, 2024 


13:30-13:55: Coffee and networking  

13:55-14:00: Welcome by Riah Pryor, Conference Chair

14:00-15:00:  The Art of Collection Management : Caring for your art, preventing theft and identifying fakes and forgeries 

Speakers: Gail Bosch (iToo ArtInsure), Dr. Alastair Meredith (Strauss & Co), Gerard de Kamper (University of Pretoria Museums), and Lee Burgers, (Zeitz MOCAA) 

15:30-16:30: The African Art Landscape - Dissolving Boundaries 

Speakers: Charlotte Ashamu (Yale University, Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage), Camilla van Hoogstraten (Latitudes), Tandazani Dhlakama (Zeitz MOCAA) and Kimberley Cunningham (Cunningham Contemporary) 

17:00: Conference Close 




Meet our Conference Chair

Riah Pryor 


Riah Pryor is an investigative journalist and author specialising in the relationship between art and law, supported by her experience working at New Scotland Yard's Art and Antiques Unit. She previously worked at The Art Newspaper as Art Market Assistant Editor and continues to write for them on a freelance basis, in addition to report writing and editorial consultancy for a range of art market clients.



Meet our speakers

Gail Bosch    


Gail Bosch is the Head of the Artinsure Team at iTOO Special Risks. At iTOO Artinsure we specialise in the insurance of appreciating assets such as Art, Antiques, Classic Cars and other collectables. She has been a specialist underwriter in this field for the past 11 years and is also a passionate collector herself.  The product was launched in 2007 and we have specialist insurance solutions for all types of collectors, dealers, auction houses and exhibitors. Appreciating assets require specialist cover as they are often irreplaceable and appreciate in value.  We insure on an Agreed Value basis for all types of collections.



Dr Alastair Meredith    

Alastair Meredith is a passionate auctioneer with extensive scholarly knowledge of early twentieth-century South African and British paintings. A skilled communicator, he has delivered numerous public lectures and also conducted many auctions.

After completing his Bachelor of Arts (Art History and English Literature) at the University of Edinburgh, Alastair attended Cambridge University where he completed both his Master’s and Doctoral degrees. It was his PhD research into the life and work of the Cape Town-born painter Jan Juta, also an accomplished muralist and designer, that first brought Alistair to the attention of Strauss & Co’s late Managing Director, Stephan Welz. He was shortly afterwards offered a job. Alastair’s scholarly knowledge, paired with his skills as a lecturer and teacher, make him brilliant at contextualising artists and their work.

Since joining Strauss & Co in 2014, his professional interests have expanded to include the curatorial aspect of displaying and cataloguing artworks. Harnessing his sensitivity as a researcher and nous as an auctioneer, Alastair now spearheads an on-going initiative at Strauss & Co to champion, at auction, neglected artists and stylistic movements from the twentieth century. These sales include a comprehensive overview of KwaZulu-Natal art (2017) and ‘Unsung History’ (2018), a sale of paintings and sculpture from 1910 to 1990.  He is skilled at perceptively gathering works for these sales in a manner that fulfils the expectations of sellers while presenting buyers with new insights into South Africa’s astonishingly diverse art history.



Gerard de Kamper 


Gerard de Kamper is the curator collections of the University of Pretoria Museums. Gerard have an honours degree in archaeology, a post graduate diploma in Museum Science and a Master’s degree in History. He is currently in his final year of his Doctoral degree in History investigating the provenance of looted art. During his career of 24 years at the University of Pretoria Gerard curated over 35 exhibitions and published several books on several art aspects like the sculptors Fanie Eloff and Edoardo Villa, as well as the Prints of JH Pierneef and last year the book “Artology 100 years of collecting at the University of Pretoria.” As part of his academic research Gerard writes on the history and creation of fakes in South Africa as well as South African Ceramics and currently the artist Maud Sumner and Anton van Wouw.




Lee Burgers  


Lee Burgers is Registrar and Collections Manager at Zeitz Museum Of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA). She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town (UCT)(2012). Additional qualifications include Certificates for Advanced Operations Management, a Paralegal Practitioner Certificate, Strategic Human Resource Management (UCT) as well as a Certificate in Business Sustainability Management obtained from the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

She has demonstrated experience in art logistics, projects manager as well as an art advisor to private collectors. Between 2016 and 2019 she was Head of Operations at SMAC Gallery, where she worked closely with artists as a liaison. In this role she gained an understanding of the conditions of artistic production not only in South Africa but on the continent. This knowledge deeply informs her current role at Zeitz MOCAA where, since 2021, she has worked closely with the museum’s curatorial team, in the preservation, strategic mediation and care of its unique permanent collection of modern and contemporary art by artists from the continent and its diaspora. 

 to help teams better understand a project's climate impact and is the Director of Strategy at Art into Acres.  


Charlotte Ashamu  


Charlotte Ashamu is the Director of International Programs at Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH).  She leads IPCH’s international strategy through public outreach and partnerships with museums, cultural institutions, and heritage bodies worldwide.

Prior to joining Yale, Ashamu served as the Associate Director of Advancement and External Affairs at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Previously she was Senior Advisor and Mo Ibrahim Leadership Fellow at the African Development Bank in the Office of the President and the Resource Mobilization and Partnerships Department. In addition, she served as Program Officer in the Advisory Services Department at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Ashamu began her career as an international trade specialist at global consulting firms Whitaker Group and Abt Associates in Washington, DC.

Ashamu holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Africana Studies from Wellesley College. A graduate of the Paris Fashion Institute, Ashamu has produced cultural programs and exhibitions featuring contemporary artists and designers from across Africa and has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture. She currently serves on the advisory council of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs and on the boards of several non-profit organizations. 



Camilla van Hoogstraten 


Camilla van Hoogstraten is the Head of Sales at Latitudes Online. Camilla is specialised in online art acquisitions and digital business development, making the art world more approachable for budding collectors, and shifting the ways in which we think about collecting.

Camilla believes in the transformative power of art. By working closely with artists, galleries, collectors and institutions, she hopes to foster a more inclusive, transparent and collaborative Pan-African art ecosystem that centres artists’ voices and promotes empathy in its audiences.




Tandazni Dhlakama 


Tandazni Dhlakama has an MA from the University of Leeds, UK, and a BA from St. Lawrence University, USA, and over 13 years of experience in the art industry working mainly from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Tandazani is currently Curator at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, where she spearheaded the launch and development of the Zeitz MOCAA & University of the Western Cape (UWC) Museum Fellowship Programme in 2021. At Zeitz MOCAA she has curated, Seekers, Seers, Soothsayers (2023), co-curated  When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting (2022), co-curated  Shooting Down Babylon: A Tracey Rose Retrospective (2022), and curated Five Bhobh: Painting at the End of an Era (2018) amongst others. Her writing and editorial contribution have led to formulation of major publications that accompanied these exhibitions. 

Tandazani has worked for well recognised organisations such as National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Tsoko Gallery in Harare, El Espacio 23 in Miami, and the 13th Recontres de Bamako- African Biennale of Photography in Bamako, where she has worked on several major exhibitions including co-curating Maa ka Maaya ka ca a yere kono—On Multiplicity, Difference, Becoming and Heritage (2022), curating WitnessAfro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection (2020),  Beyond the Body 2016); ZimbabweIN Design (2014 and 2017) and Dis(colour)ed Margins (2017). 

Tandazani’s writing appears in the artist monographs of Georgina Maxim and Wallen Mapondera, in publications such as  Audacious Art Practices: Situating the Contemporary Arts of Africa,  Plasticity of the Planet: On Environmental Challenge for Art and Its Institutions and on MOMA’s Post: Notes on Art In A Global Context, TSA Collector’s Series: Artists & Cities, Africanah: Arena for Contemporary African, African American and Caribbean Art, ArtLife Magazine to name a few. Tandazani serves as a member of the  NESR Foundation Artistic Committee in Luanda, as well as the ARAK Foundation Advisory Committee in Doha.


Kimberley Cunningham 

Kimberley Cunningham boasts over a decade of experience within the global art market, with a focus on African Contemporary Art and non-Western art more broadly. Following her tenure at Gagosian and Goodman galleries, Kimberley established Cunningham Contemporary in 2020, pioneering a collaborative model in curatorial practice and art advisory services.

In 2021, Kimberley Cunningham founded RESTUDIO in Johannesburg, an innovative, collaborative exhibition responding to the pandemic's impact on the art sector. She also led the Singita Art Gallery project, integrating art with conservation, highlighting her commitment to environmental concerns through artistic endeavours. Presently, Kimberley's consults for galleries across Africa focusing on global development, in line with her commitment to raising the profile of African art globally. In addition, she launched WIA Africa in early 2023, a platform focused on uplifting women in the art profession across the continent, further showcasing her dedication to mentorship and empowerment in the creative community.



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