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Featured work: Givan Lötz. The Flash, 2026 (detail)

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

12.03.26 - 23.04.26

Notes from the Fire

Givan Lötz

Rumble: The Body Entangled

Alexia Smit

The Crow Messengers

Judith Westerveld

Sacred Debris

Kirsty Tinkler

A LONG AND REMARKABLE LEGACY

Dating back to 1850, the AVA is the oldest nonprofit gallery in Cape Town with the mission to advance contemporary art and artists.

The AVA is committed to being the most accessible professional gallery space for emerging and independent artists to exhibit and develop their work.

LEARN MORE

A LIVING ARCHIVE

Discover AVA’s digital archive. Five decades of our archives are available online, for public access and research.

VISIT

LIMITED STOCK - AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

Flipside: The inadvertent Archive

by Kim Gurney | R590

This book takes the reader on a thematic journey through the rooms of a former house in Cape Town that the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) has, since 1971, called home. The architectural records that inspire this narrative structure are lodged in the AVA Archive, comprising a vast array of physical documents of care, to which Flipside creatively responds.

Flipside is available for local collection at AVA Gallery, 35 Church Street, Cape Town. We also offer local and international shipping for an additional fee. A member of our team will contact you shortly after purchasing to coordinate your collection or provide a custom shipping quote and delivery timeline.

For sale inquiries, contact admin@ava.co.za

Seeking to add to your collection?

Hannah Macfarlane, Bubblegum Swamp, 2025

Browse our general catalogue featuring a curated selection of artworks from our past exhibitions, available to purchase. For sales inquiries, contact admin@ava.co.za

Aimee Lindeque, “The man with the border collie always greets us there”, 2025 (detail)

Alka Dass, Expired, 2025

EXPLORE

PAST EXHIBITIONS:

AVA | 2026 ICTAF

Catalogue

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As Natural As Daylight: Plants, Memory and The Edge of Belonging

Group show | Curated by Yusuf Essop & Jade Nair

Try a Little Tenderness

Hannah Macfarlane and Amber Alcock

Do You Know the Place?

Aimee Lindeque

Who is King? And What Do I Know?

Gill Allderman

Everything is White

Luciano Luz

Cities of the Future - In the Past

Svea Josephy

Horizons Unbound

Suzanne Leighton

Meeting Point

Davina de Beer

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe | Curated by Mzoxolo Vimba

Drawing the Line by Adelheid Frackiewicz

Absa L'Atelier Ambassador

Transposing an Echo: Reimagining Oral Setswana Poetry through Digital Intervention

Tebogo Boikanyo Matshana

Remember This Land

Stefan Raubenheimer

A Home Called Vogue

Yazeed Kamaldien

A BEAST WITH TWO BACKS

Group show | Curated by Grace Matetoa and Keely Shinners

Reflections of a Queen

Kganya Mogashoa

Tell me about a day you don’t remember

Group Show | Curated by Aaliya Dramat, Aiden Nel, Vida Madighi-Oghu and Erin Sweeney

Nanna’s Kitchen

Aaron Philander

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GEOMATICS: LAND | LAW | ORE

Jeannette Unite

JOURNAL:

AVA at the 2026 ICTAF

20 - 22 February 2026

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Exhibition Programme

2026

The Dog Is Chasing Its Tail: Tshepo Sizwe Phokojoe’s ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’

ArtThrob review by Luca Evans

Precarious Times: Svea Josephy’s ‘Cities of the Future – In the Past’

ArtThrob review by Tiyani Rikhotso

Call for Internships (CLOSED)

Art Fair Assistant

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Winter Ceramics Exhibition Open Call

by Spier Arts Trust

Opening: Tales of History Retold at The lyatsiba Lab

Curated by Kim Gurney & Carlyn Strydom

Recalling: Reflections of a Queen at AVA Gallery

ArtThrob Student Review by Ellen Augustyn

After the Anthropocene: Stefan Raubenheimer’s Remember This Land

ArtThrob Student Review by Drew Haller

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Notice of 2025 AGM

Wednesday 12 November | 6pm

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What Remains: Adelheid Frackiewicz’s ‘Drawing the Line’ at AVA Gallery

ArtThrob Student Review by Tara Hall

In conversation with Keely Shinners

Writer, editor, curator & performer

In conversation with Vida Madighi-Oghu

Visual artist, writer, and curator

Call for Board Member Nominations (CLOSED)

2025 AGM

In conversation with Sean O’Toole

Writer, editor and curator

PAST PROJECTS:

NEXXUS (2023)

Sonya Rademeyer, Franco Prinsloo, Caroline Sohie

iQhiya Panel at the AVA.

Uncovering a discourse centred on the voices of black women.

Film Screening
Friday 20 March | 5:00 for 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Join us this Friday for an evening screening of Judith Westerveld’s short film, The Sending of the Crows (2024), followed by an insightful Q&A session with the artist, Judi

Upcoming Event
Saturday, 14 March | 10:15 am – 1 pm

Please join us tomorrow morning for In Their Own Words: Reflections on the Bleek and Lloyd Archive - an artist publication launch in conjunction with Judith Westerveld’s solo exhibitio

Exhibition Opening
Thursday 12 March | 5pm - 8pm

Please join us tomorrow evening for the opening of Rumble: The Body Entangled, a solo exhibition by Alexia Smit @alexia_smit_painting

The exhibition’s title, Rumble, serves as a dual metaphor,

Exhibition Opening
Thursday 12 March | 5pm - 8pm
Featuring a performance by Garth Erasmus

Please join us this Thursday for the opening of Notes From The Fire, a solo exhibition by Givan Lötz

In this work of visual speculative fiction, L&

Exhibition Opening
Thursday 12 March | 5pm - 8pm
Featuring a performance by Garth Erasmus

Please join us this Thursday for the opening of The Crow Messengers, a solo exhibition by Judith Westerveld @judewest.

In this solo exhibition, Westerveld pr

FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY ON INSTAGRAM

Supporting emerging and established artists of South Africa

From our annual open call, we curate up to 28 exhibitions per year at our gallery space at 35 Church Street. Principles of experimentation, collaboration and shared decision making are at the heart of the AVA.

The AVA is generously supported by its Donors and Sponsors