Shona Van Der Merwe Email & Phone Number

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

RESERVOIR is a curatorial partnership, founded by Heinrich Groenewald and Shona van der Merwe in 2021. After shaping their careers in commercial galleries, where they gained in depth knowledge of the local and international art market, the partners have established a strong network of artists, collectors and industry drivers.Functioning as a collection of curatorial information - a ‘reservoir’- the company specialises in collaboration in the contemporary art community, and have partnered up with contemporary galleries like WHATIFTHEWORLD, WITW x KRONE, TheFOURTH and THK to produce exhibitions with some of South Africa’s most exciting young artists.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

• Artist liaison• Gallery programming and managing sales material• Supported production, project planning and budgets for internal and external exhibitions• Liaised with international and South African collectors, initiating long-term relationships and generating sales• Built and strengthened relationships with local and international museums, foundations and biennials to initiate and support opportunities for gallery artists• Edited and oversaw production of gallery publications – commissioned texts, managed budgets and liaised with designers and printers• Trained and mentored new employees• Worked with other members of the gallery’s senior team in developing long-term programming and curatorial strategies

Cape Town

• Artist liaison: general assistance to all gallery artists• Sales: communicated with clients, provided general sales assistance to directors, and finalised sales• Designed and wrote international art fair proposals, coordinated administrative and logistical arrangements, and attended art fairs• Wrote press releases, liaised with press and managed social media• Inventory management, registrar support, client logistics, website updates and bookkeeping.• Designed programme-specific and external exhibition material and photographed artworks.• Editorial coordination - liaised with artists and designers to produce gallery publications

Venice, Italy

Voluntary position. Responsibilities:- General facilitation in months leading up to the forum- Coordinated speakers and moderators throughout the 3 day conference which coincided with the 58th Venice Biennale- Communicated with remote audiences through live streaming platforms- Fielded questions following presentationsAAVF is a public and free discursive platform presented in Venice, Italy during the opening week of the Venice Biennale. The event provides new opportunities to discover, learn, discuss, explore and exchange on topics and projects related to contemporary art from Africa and its diasporas. AAVF 2019 featured talks and readings, with an expanded interactive format spanning across three full days from 7-9 May 2019.

Stellenbosch Visual Arts

Gradex is an annual exhibition organised by the graduating students of the Visual Arts Department of Stellenbosch University. It showcases the graduate work from the Fine Arts, Jewellery Design as well as Visual Communication Design diciplines.This annual event has become a highlight on the university's calender as well as within the broader community.Throughout the year, Gradex hosts numerous fundraising events to help make the Gradex exhibition possible - including everything from market days to their famous quad parties - so keep an eye on this page for the latest events to help support Gradex 2014.Responsibilities include: Curating a group show with the works of 42 fine arts and design graduates.Fundraising, marketing, event planning. General management of exhibition, opening night and catalogue.

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba)

Matric Certificate (Nsc)

Directorate Music

Directorate Music