Research

JCAF is a learning institution committed to engaging with the art and ideas of our time, while acknowledging the role of the past.

JCAF’s mandate is to advance the public’s understanding of modern and contemporary art, and to identify and collaborate with scholars and institutions globally. Germane to this is the redress of the imbalance between ourselves and the ‘Global North’ in relation to knowledge, through a fundamental questioning of who produces knowledge about the Global South, who writes its histories, who generates new knowledge about its artists and who curates its content.

At JCAF, knowledge is generated or set in motion through a structured research methodology that includes (i) a Theme – a broad subject of contemporary and historical significance (ii) an appointed Fellow who guides the research process and (iii) a Researcher.

Outputs include (i) a Workshop (ii) Salons – discursive platforms for debating and sharing ideas in response to the curatorial programming – and (iii) the publishing of the JCAF Journal to disseminate the curatorial programme and the research initiatives to the international art community through scholarly contributions, and to act as a repository of important cultural debates taking place in the Global South.