Proposed establishment of SADEC branch of International Association of Art Critics
by Andrew Lamprecht
A group of a dozen art critics met for a hastily convened meeting at the Michaelis School of Fine Art on March 28. Occasioned by the presence of Doreen Sibanda, Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Cape Town, the topic of discussion was the possibility of launching a SADEC branch of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA).
AICA, with its international headquarters located in Paris, comprises over 4000 members and is concerned with furthering the discipline of art criticism in all its forms and serves as the pre-eminent professional body for such critics. Founded in the 1940s, under the patronage of UNESCO, to whom it is still closely affiliated, the organisation is made up of about 60 'national sections' which are more or less autonomously organised. In an unprecedented move, the AICA executive indicated, at a recent conference in Addis Ababa, that they would consider the possibility of a trans-national region for the SADEC countries.
This meeting then, with full acknowledgement of the lack of full representivity of art critics in the region generally (although professionals from Botswana and Mozambique in addition to Zimbabwe were present), discussed whether the possibility of such a structure was viable and whether the development of such a regional section should be pursued.
Much initial spadework for this initiative was done by Emma Bedford, as well as Virginia MacKenny and Storm Janse van Rensburg. After some discussion it was unanimously agreed that Andrew Lamprecht and Doreen Sibanda would pursue the proposal and begin the formal process of establishing a regional section.
Anyone who would like to be kept appraised of the progress of AICA SADEC or contribute to the should contact Lamprecht at andrewlamprecht@gmail.com
