Visual Arts

Africa South Art Initiative (ASAI) - Western Cape

ASAI began as a collaborative effort initially founded by Mario Pissara and an informal network of Cape Town based visual art practitioners. The projects aim is to raise the visibility of emerging and neglected South African and SADC (Southern African Development Community) artists who are represented or promoted by galleries. Images of art works and artists’ profiles are published online. Essays commissioned from SADC countries are also published online.

The organisation has also developed the South African Artists Index and Bibliography by issuing out an open call through emails, newsletters, developed policy and criteria for the selection of artists. ASAI has been proactive in identifying prospective artists and has consulted with relevant individuals, organizations galleries and publications.

ASAI has developed Artists indexes in alphabetical order with information concerning the publications. They are placed chronologically, approximated by decade from 1920 to the present. The current focus is on survey books and catalogues, as opposed to individual monographs and journals, magazines will be included at a later stage.

The organisation has also concentrated on assembling archival records of the Community Arts Project for digitisation in partnership with the Centre for Humanities Research at UWC and the Department of Manuscripts and Archives at UCT. For more information visit www.asai.co.za