Bag Factory

One of Joburg’s leading visual arts organisations, the Bag Factory has been alive and kicking since 1991, when the space was set up to provide studios for artists – mainly black artists, who at that stage, had very little access to networks and resources in order to build their careers. It was one of the first collective studio spaces for visual artists in South Africa and has held it’s downtown ground in the rapidly evolving metropolis of Johannesburg by rising daringly to the moment’s headline. Since its inception the Bag Factory has focused on developing a programme that stands for inclusion and diversity, built on an idea of open access.

Being strategically situated on the Western edge of the city between the Oriental Plaza and the Newtown Cultural Precinct, it is also readily accessible to areas surrounding the city, notably Soweto. The building contains 18 studios, as well as a workshop spaces and gallery, and the gritty vitality of its urban context has impacted powerfully on the work of the artists based in the Fordsburg studios.

Location