Published 11 October 2019 in Online News
https://artafricamagazine.org/changing-with-the-times-transforming-the-acquisition-policy-of-the-unisa-art-collection/
The Unisa Art Gallery was established in 1961 in conjunction with the Department of History of Art and Fine Art, and has developed over the years to become a significant space in the South African art industry. Unisa Art Gallery is a university art gallery under one of the oldest universities in South Africa and one of the largest universities in the world. Unisa’s roots date back 145 years when it was initially called the University of the Cape of Good Hope. The gallery is home to a permanent art collection, and it hosts regular exhibitions of relevant contemporary local art.
The gallery not only serves as a traditional
gallery and exhibition space but it’s also a place of community engagement,
learning and research. Art tours and workshops are offered to visitors, staff
and students to get the most out of their visit. The gallery mainly hosts
student’s exhibitions and a variety of curated exhibitions every year, focusing
on the diversity, evident in contemporary art in the country as well as other
relevant aspects of the arts. The gallery is also a hub for academic research
with its publicly accessible online inventory of catalogues and permanent art
collections. Thus, the Unisa Art Gallery is proclaimed as one of the
most-unique public collections in South Africa.