The Investec Cape Town Art Fair Invites You to Listen and Engage for its 13th Edition

With just weeks to go before doors open, anticipation is building for the 13th edition of Investec Cape Town Art Fair, returning to the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 20 – 22 February 2026. Widely recognised as the largest and most influential art fair on the continent, the fair brings together the world’s leading galleries, artists, curators and collectors for four days of discovery, exchange and encounter. Here’s everything you need to know.

All About This Year’s Investec Cape Town Art Fair

Under the 2026 thematic focus, Listen, this year’s edition places dialogue, participation, and perspective at the centre of the visitor experience. More than a showcase, the fair unfolds as a living cultural forum, one in which
audiences are invited not only to view art, but to engage with the ideas, processes, and conversations that shape it.

The 2026 edition brings together 126 exhibitors from 34 global cities, presenting the work of over 490 artists from across Africa and around the world. International galleries are shown alongside leading African and South African spaces, with additional curated sections including design-and-craft-focused Capsule, a debut special project, Performance, and a robust programme of talks, art walks, and workshops, expanding the fair’s scope and rhythm. Together, they position Cape Town as a vital meeting point for cross-continental exchange and global contemporary practice.

Across the weekend, guided art walks offer curated journeys through the fair, led by voices including Dr Mariella Franzoni, Céline Seror, Tandazani Dhlakama, Beata America, Athi-Patra Ruga, Max Melvill, and Anna Weylandt. Each walk proposes a different way of reading the fair, encouraging visitors to return and experience it anew.

A series of ticketed workshops provides rare access to artistic processes and interdisciplinary thinking. Highlights include Zanele Muholi: Looking Inward: A Self-Portraiture Workshop in collaboration with ORMS, Mary Sibande and Thebe Magugu: Telling Stories Through Colour and Materiality, and Dan Corder: What Are We Doing Here?, an open-circle conversation examining the state and shifting role of art criticism today, intimate, limited-capacity sessions designed for hands-on engagement.