Beyond the Fair Floor: How Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2026 Activates the City

The Investec Cape Town Art Fair has always been about more than what happens on the fair floor. In 2026, its programme once again extends deep into the city’s cultural fabric, offering a series of encounters that invite audiences to think, walk, listen, and engage with art as lived experience. This is Cape Town at its most articulate – curated, considered, and in constant conversation with itself.

Running alongside the fair, the programme unfolds as a carefully composed journey through workshops, talks, and exhibitions, designed to connect visitors not only to artists and ideas but to the city and its communities. Among the highlights is Tomorrow / Today, an art walk led by curator Mariela Franzoni on 20 February, offering a forward-looking lens on contemporary practice and emerging narratives. That same day, a Strauss & Co talk probes the dynamics of The South African Secondary Market vs the World, opening up a timely discussion around value, visibility, and context.

Saturday, 21 February, shifts focus to lineage and legacy. The Generations Art Walk, curated by Tandazani Dhlakama, traces artistic continuity across time, while an additional walk with artist Athi Patra-Ruga offers a more personal, performative perspective. Art School Africa contributes both curated walks and a series of talks, including Collecting Stories That Matter, sponsored by iTOO Artinsure, foregrounding collecting as an act of narrative building rather than acquisition alone.

Beyond the fairgrounds, the city’s institutions come into play. On Sunday, Norval Foundation hosts Brett Murray in conversation around Wild Life, a major retrospective spanning four decades and more than 80 sculptural works. Meanwhile, Zeitz MOCAA presents Spring Is Rebellious: The Art & Life of Albie Sachs, led by Albie Sachs.

Taken together, the programme reinforces what sets the Investec Cape Town Art Fair apart: an insistence on depth, dialogue, and place. Art here is not simply viewed; it is walked through, spoken about, and carried forward.