ABOUT THE ART BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Art Bank of South Africa (ArtbankSA) is a national programme of the Department of Arts and Culture as part of the Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) strategy implementation. The artbankSA is hosted by the National Museum Bloemfontein, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture. The vision of ArtbankSA is to promote, foster and stimulate a vibrant market for the collection of South African contemporary visual art.

The ArtbankSA will achieve this by;

• Curating a definitive collection of contemporary South African visual art.
• Promoting financial sustainability for artists and the Art Bank of South Africa through the leasing of art.
• Nurturing emerging South African artists by expanding the market for their work and providing skills development opportunities.
• Fostering an appreciation for contemporary art by making art accessible to the broader public in their workplaces and shared spaces.

The ArtbankSA acquires artwork produced by contemporary South African artists for lease to government departments, private companies and public institutions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection criteria that all artworks must meet to qualify for acquisition are

• To be produced by a contemporary South African artist;

1. To be classified as a South African artist, the artist must be either born in South Africa, a South African citizen, in South Africa as an approved temporary resident for a minimum of two years; and/or a permanent resident of South Africa.
2. The artist may be living in South Africa or overseas as long as at least one of the above stated criteria are demonstrable.
3. Where the artwork is produced by an artist collective or collaboration, no less than fifty percent of the contributors must meet the criteria

• Artworks produced by predominantly emerging contemporary artists* from urban, peri-urban and rural areas, represented by all the nine provinces of South Africa;

(*while the focus of the Art Bank is on emerging artists, established artists are also welcome to make submissions for consideration)

• Artworks that are technically sound, resistant to deterioration and is easy to handle when being installed, packaged and transported;
• Should an artwork meet the above mentioned criteria, but lacks final finishing e.g. framing or mounting, the artwork will not be penalized to be purchased for the collection. The ArtbankSA will see to it that the artwork is framed.
• The ArtbankSA will not purchase work which is a duplicate of work already in the collection.
• No reproductions (except for editions) will be eligible for consideration.

Artists submitting work to the ArtbankSA should be aware that the artwork purchased by the ArtbankSA may be for display in government buildings, private companies, private homes and public spaces.

Criteria for submissions

Submissions can be sent via email or post. Artists are required to meet the following criteria:

• A detailed submission form is required with each submission. Submission forms can be found on the Art Bank of South Africa social media platforms and the website and requested from nathi@artbanksa.org.
• Artists may submit a maximum of five original artworks for consideration.
• Artwork of any medium can be submitted.
• Artwork should have been created by the artist after July 2019.
• Artwork must be of a superior quality and representative of South African contemporary art.

The decision of the Acquisition Committee will be final and ONLY successful applicants will be contacted about collection and couriering of artwork to the exhibition venue in due course.

• Three dimension artwork submissions must be accompanied by images which sufficiently portray the artwork in all its dimensions.
• Clearly indicate the sale price of the artwork including VAT (where applicable) and any other costs.

Non adherence to the above criteria will result in the application becoming disqualified. Only original, ready for purchase, artwork will be considered.

The ArtbankSA Acquisition Committee

The nine member acquisitions committee will oversee the selection process; approve and make recommendations of artworks for purchase.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SELECTED ARTWORKS

Permission for the use of images of the artwork in promotional and educational materials i.e. website, catalogues etc. will be required.

The artist/artist representative will be required to register on the Central Database System (CSD) and be SARS tax compliant. This is a mandatory requirement because as a programme of the Department of Arts Culture through its Msanzi Golden Economy strategy, the programme has to comply with the PMFA is a requirements.