Johannesburg-based artist Ronél de Jager’s latest work ‘Anonymous member’ is a large-scale sculptural installation created from 56 600 individual glass pearl beads. It makes its debut at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2026. The work marks a departure from her normal process of making paintings. And yet, it doesn’t. As much a logical extension of her practice as it is a dramatic evolution, ‘Anonymous member’ registers a new dimension to her image-making in its scale and ambition. The work isn’t viewable to its full extent without the use of device (phone or iPad): as De Jager says, “This is the very antithesis of my process and how my paintings are processed - from image to digital distortion – from thumbnail to enlargement from / micro to macro / zooming in - from the ever-present screen to an intense focus on surface detailing.”
 
The resulting sense of movement, of constant shifting even though the images are rendered in static oil paint, has a dual effect: on the surface it clearly suggests the ceaseless fluidity of the internet and the consequent anxiety of living a life of constant uncertainty and doubt. But another sensation strikes the observant viewer: that these paintings, and now the installation ‘Anonymous member’, perform for us every time. They’re desperately presenting and re-presenting themselves each time they’re viewed. Rather than adhering to (as many contemporary artworks still do) the Renaissance trope of a painting as a window onto the world, De Jager’s works threaten to inconveniently flow out of their matrix and into our world of irl (in real life), blurring yet another edge.

Investec Cape Town Art Fair are delighted to announce that Listen is our curatorial concept for the 13th edition of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, taking place from 20 – 22 February 2026.

In a world saturated with noise, urgency and individualistic self-expression, listening is an increasingly radical act. Listen is not passive. It is an active, embodied, ethical gesture. Listen is an invitation: to pause, to create space, to hold complexity, to tune in to what lies usually unheard beneath the surface.

For #ICTAF2026, Listen emerges as both a curatorial proposition and a sensorial framework, explored through sound, silence, resonance, resistance and the myriad ways in which artists invite us to hear differently.

More than just a theme, Listen is a mode of engagement and a way of being with art, with one another, and with the moment. It asks artists to reflect on what it means to be heard. It challenges curators to assemble sections that cultivate attention and presence. It encourages visitors to participate sensitively in meaning-making.

Join us to witness powerful translations of visual language and Listen to the voices on the cutting-edge of contemporary art, enriched by the soundscapes that echo throughout the city of Cape Town, our world, and the global art community.

#ICTAF2026
#InvestecCapeTownArtFair

Based in Johannesburg, FNB Art Joburg is the leading and longest running contemporary African art fair on the continent. For the last 17 years, FNB Art Joburg has played an instrumental role in developing and sustaining a commercial industry that centres around African and diasporic practitioners.

A platform where curatorial and commercial interventions meet, the fair is divided into seven specialised sections: gallery HUB, gallery LAB, MAX, GIF, ETC, AUX, and ORG sections.

Referred to as gallery HUB, the fair’s central section presents the best in contemporary Africa art from across the continent and the world to reflect the fair’s objective to be a quality rather than quantity focused fair.

Adjacent to gallery HUB, and looking to the future of contemporary African art, is gallery LAB. An incubation to develop emerging galleries and hybrid art spaces, gallery LAB will present and test new ideas and business models aimed at transforming the contemporary African art landscape.