International Public Art Festival 2023: Company’s Garden a work of art

03 March 2023

The 2023 edition of the International Public Arts Festival kicked off at the Company’s Garden this week.  The City of Cape Town is continuing its partnership with Baz-Art by supporting the seventh instalment of the public art festival. 

The International Public Arts Festival(IPAF) gives residents and visitors an opportunity to explore Cape Town through public art. For five days, the Company's Garden will be transformed into an open-air art space with large-scale artwork installations, pop up performances at the festival hub and busking. The event takes place in the Company's Garden for the first time since its inception in 2016.

In partnership with local galleries in the CBD, a 'Public Art Route' will be activated for the duration of the festival to host temporary external exhibitions at galleries.

The public will also get the opportunity to see highly skilled local and international artists create large-scale art live, and to interact and gain insights into the art making process from the participating artists.

'The City of Cape Town is thrilled to be continuing its partnership with Baz-Art for one of Africa's largest public arts festivals. When the City partnered with Baz-Art in 2016 we wanted to provide opportunities to artists in the city and supplement our other programmes. To date, IPAF has upskilled hundreds of South African artists to a professional level and exposed them to the international art scene. At the same time, over 200 breathtaking public murals have been commissioned and painted in various communities in Cape Town,' said Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

This year, the festival is providing more opportunities to not only mural artists, but also giving a platform to visual artists with pop up performances included as part of the festival. 

In addition, there will be an art market at the festival hub in the Company's Garden. While most of the festival activities are free to the public, the festival is offering guided public art tours from R70 per person.

The seventh edition of the International Public Arts Festival runs until Sunday, 5 March 2023.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office