Johannesburg will host the world's largest outdoor art gallery when the "JHB ART CITY" visual arts exhibition Wall Project goes on show in August 2002 to coincide with the World Summit on Sustainable Development from 26 August to end September. The massive representations of works by South African artists will remain displayed around the city until the Cricket World Cup in March 2003.
The project aims to showcase the inner city as the hub and cultural centre of Africa's world class city. JHB ART CITY, the national competition from which artworks will be selected for exhibit, opens new branding opportunities for Johannesburg on the international arts and culture scene, as a unique open-air urban gallery. Changing the works annually will ensure sustained and regenerated interest.
In the shorter term, the exhibition will provide the largest attraction in the inner city for delegates to the World Summit and will be a tourist drawcard for both international and national visitors to the city.
Benefits on the cultural front include making visual art easily accessible to the public in their everyday lives and staging complementary performing arts events in the public spaces at selected project locations.
Through its sites, JHB ART CITY will also focus attention on urban regeneration projects such as the Constitutional Hill, Nelson Mandela Bridget, the revamped Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown and Ghandi Square in CBD and Metromarket and the Fashion District. Artworks will be exhibited in greatly enlarged versions, mainly on the sides of buildings, in those areas as well as at The Civic Theatre, Constitution Hill, the Wits Cultural Precinct, Park Central, Fashion District, Gandhi Square, 90 Market Street and Main and Hollard Streets.
IMAGE:
The Gasworks
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