The Javett Art Centre at UP

28/08/2026

This September, Bokamoso Holiday Art Programme invites you to find out what imagination looks like when it’s woven, painted and passed between generations.
Inspired by Orchard of the Imagination : Selections from the Brenthurst Collection of Southern African Art, our Spring edition opens with a Family Day facilitated by Dr. Adéle Adendorff, where hands of every age meet thread, colour and story.

27 September- 01 October 2026 | Family Day : 27 September, from 13:00-15:00. Tickets from R250 on Webtickets - early bird special on week day passes .
Daily lunch is available for an extra R100.

Book now on Webtickets https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/event.aspx?itemid=1601731957

25/08/2026

Once a month, we open our doors for a free guided tour through the galleries. No rushing, just time to look and ask questions.
Join us this Sunday, 30 August, for a free tour through Javett-UP. Normal admission rates apply.

Book via the link https://forms.gle/MKD9SUarJivkhzQM9

22/08/2026

At Javett-UP, we’re all for technology, innovation, experimentation and exploring new tools.

But as an ART centre, human creativity is at the heart of what we do. We value it. We support it. We promote it. And yes, we pay for it.

Where do you think AI belongs in the creative process? There are some strong feels about this one. Share yours in the comments.

CREDITS:
Creative direction, camera, edit & post-production: Danielle Wallace / Kunslyn. Visit www.kunslyn.com
Cast: Javett-UP team

20/08/2026

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫

We are looking for a Collections Manager to join the . This position plays a critical role in the care, documentation, and administration of the Javett-UP’s permanent collections and loaned artworks and the production of exhibitions. The ideal candidate should be sharp, organised, and proactive, with meticulous attention to detail and a genuine passion for art conservation.

Applicants are requested to submit applications to [email protected] with the Subject Line: Application for Vacancy: Javett-UP Collections Manager

𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 : 𝟬𝟯 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 https://javettup.com/news/recruitment-advertisement-collections-manager

19/08/2026

It was an honour to facilitate the protest poster-making workshop and support participants in shaping and amplifying the urgent messages of their communities. Thank you for hosting us and creating a space for meaningful collective action.

As part of the Feast of the Clowns, the Center for Faith and Community and the Javett Art Centre (Javett-UP) at the University of Pretoria came together with Artists, community activists, students, and the Community, for an Art tour through the Javett Art Centre at UP, focusing on art education. The Art workshop culminated in a protest poster-making workshop, which took place at the UP Mamelodi Campus. The process of making protest posters was both a reflection on existing campaigns and voicing out the challenges communities are facing. These posters will be used at the main event of the Feast of the Clowns on the 29th August at Burgers Park in the inner-city, and then transferred back to the community as their protest posters to strengthen their local campaigns.

18/08/2026

Are you an artist-academic looking for dedicated time to focus on your arts practice as research?

Applications are now open for the University of Johannesburg’s 2027 Artists in Residence Programme.

Designed to advance arts practice as research, the programme gives artist-academics the time and support to immerse themselves in focused research and develop meaningful creative work.

Applications are invited from emerging and established artist-academics working in visual arts, music, theatre, performance and dance, design, film and television, or literary arts.

Applicants must:

• Not be affiliated with another tertiary institution in South Africa
• Hold a relevant post-school qualification, with preference given to applicants with master’s or doctoral degrees
• Propose an arts practice research project that will result in at least one creative output during the 10-month residency

Successful applicants will receive a monthly stipend of R12 000 for the duration of the residency.

Applications close on 31 August 2026.

If you know an artist-academic whose work could benefit from this opportunity, please share the call with them.

Learn more and apply:
https://arts.uj.ac.za/artists-in-residence/

18/08/2026

What histories do we inherit, and what responsibility do we have to remember them?

In conversation with ART AFRICA, photographer Thero Makepe reflects on 'We Didn't Choose to Be Born Here', his first institutional solo exhibition at Javett Art Centre. Drawing together family photographs, oral histories, documentary images, staged portraiture, and re-enactments, Makepe traces his family's movements between Botswana and South Africa, revealing the intimate connections between personal memory and Southern Africa's histories of migration, colonialism, and political resistance.

Moving from Pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness to the legacy of , the conversation considers photography as a form of historical inquiry, and remembering as both a personal responsibility and a collective act.

Read Full Interview on ART AFRICA.

11/08/2026

In this final week of 𝙙𝙞𝙩š𝙬𝙖𝙩š𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜, Cow Mash invites us for the last time to encounter the personal memories and symbols that shape the exhibition. Did you know that the kiosk at the exhibition entrance is reminiscent of her childhood journeys between family homes and the feeling of returning to a place of belonging?

Watch the full video on our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/oUTA4WuWKas

𝙙𝙞𝙩š𝙬𝙖𝙩š𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 closes on Saturday, 15 August 2026.
Book a visit on Webtickets https://tr.ee/273LijZUmH

05/08/2026

On Saturday, 1 August 2026, we welcomed visitors into 𝙙𝙞𝙩š𝙬𝙖𝙩š𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 for an afternoon of storytelling, reflection and shared discovery. Led by artist Cow Mash, the intimate walkabout offered an opportunity to spend time with the ideas, memories and imaginings that shape the exhibition as it enters its final weeks at Javett-UP.

Through a series of small-group walkabouts, Cow Mash guided participants through the world of 𝙙𝙞𝙩š𝙬𝙖𝙩š𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜, inviting a slower and more personal engagement with the exhibition. Drawing on Indigenous cosmologies and ethnobotanical knowledge, her work imagines speculative worlds where memory, ecology and identity intersect. In ditšwatšhemong -meaning "they come from the field" - she adopts the persona of a transdimensional farmer, cultivating imagined plant forms that invite us to consider alternative ways of being and belonging.

The experience continued around a communal gathering, where Chef Gontse Mai, founder of Oh Mai Catering presented a six-course tasting experience inspired by Indigenous ingredients and traditional knowledge. Extending the conversation beyond the gallery, each course offered a sensory reflection on themes of home, memory and cultural inheritance woven in the exhibition.

We closed the afternoon in conversation, reflecting together on what we had seen, tasted and learned. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this thoughtful gathering.

𝙙𝙞𝙩š𝙬𝙖𝙩š𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 closes on 15 August 2026. If you missed Saturday's programme, there is still time to experience the exhibition before it closes.

30/07/2026

On Saturday, it was exciting to welcome FET educators to the 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲: 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗦 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 , a day dedicated to exploring how museums and galleries can enrich teaching and learning beyond the classroom.Through guided discussions and interactive activities, participants examined ways to use exhibitions as learning resources that support critical thinking, research, interpretation and reflective engagement.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Dr Deléne Human for facilitating the programme and to all the educators who joined us with curiosity, and to support the High Commission of Canada in South Africa Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) to realise the programme.