Vision

The mission of the SABC Art Collection is, first and foremost, to establish a public collection worthy of a national broadcaster and representative of the creative output of South African visual artists, both historical and contemporary. It is also our aim to use the Collection to build and broaden understandings of visual art, and to further its use as a mode of social engagement.

In curatorial approach, we strive to be representative across race, gender, historical period, style and medium. We seek to inhabit contradiction and evoke emotion through the thoughtful display and juxtaposition of the art works in the Collection.

As expressed in the Broadcasting Act 4 of 1999, the SABC’s mandate is to encourage ‘the development of South African expression by providing a wide range of programming that refers to South African opinions, ideas, values and artistic creativity’ and, more specifically, ‘enrich the cultural heritage of South Africa by providing support for traditional and contemporary artistic expression’. Read more…

Exhibitions

A SELECTION

The SABC Collection ran at the FADA Gallery at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) from 25 March to 5 May 2023. Encompassing both traditional and new media, this exhibition featured seminal artworks […]

JOBURG, OUR JOBURG

The exhibition Joburg, Our Joburg was curated for the Business Day Wanted lounge at FNB Art Joburg in 2019. The exhibition wall text opened with an extract from the poem ‘City Johannesburg’ by Mongane Wally […]

SCAPE

A selection of works from the SABC Art Collection showed in the foyer of the Radio Park building in Auckland Park, Johannesburg in 2011 and was the main exhibition at the COP17 Climate Change Conference […]

SELVES

For this exhibition at the SABC in Auckland Park in 2015, we took a turn inwards to focus on the private and psychological aspects of human identity. While Aluta Continua (2012–2014) focused on public/political realities […]

A LUTA CONTINUA

In 2012, the African National Congress celebrated its centenary, and this in-house exhibition A Luta Continua | The Struggle Continues was curated with that historic moment in mind […]

TWENTY-TEN

The exhibition Twenty-Ten: A selection of works from the SABC Art Collection ran in the foyer of the Radio Park building in Auckland Park, Johannesburg during 2010 […]

MAKING WAVES

Curated by SABC art curator Koulla Xinisteris (with historian Graham Neame), Making Waves was a major survey exhibition of South African artworks spanning over a century and including an impressive range of […]