For the first time on the African continent, the Artworld Passport will be activated at the 2026 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, February 20 - 22. The Artworld Passport is a collaborative, conceptual and participatory artwork that transforms the traditional travel document into a powerful symbol of artistic freedom, cultural mobility, and institutional critique. At its core, the passport challenges the systemic exclusions and bureaucratic barriers faced by artists, particularly those from the Global South, seeking to move, connect, and create across borders.

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Created by visual artist Richard Mudariki, whose practice is at the intersection of art, migration, and identity, the Artworld Passport invites artists, curators, collectors, and cultural workers to reclaim the act of movement, not as a privilege granted by institutions, but as a right affirmed by community.

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Each passport becomes a living archive, stamped and signed by fellow artists, curators, and collaborators across the globe. It is both a poetic object and a participatory tool - carried, shared, and documented through exhibitions, studio visits, biennales, and everyday encounters in the creative world.

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Since its launch, The Artworld Passport has been showcased at some of the most influential art platforms, including Frieze New York (2024) and Art Basel Week (2025), where it has sparked conversations around access, visibility, and the politics of presence. In June 2025, its installation at Africa Basel gained international attention when the artist behind the project was denied a Swiss visa, turning the project into a real-time reflection on exclusion and a global call for alternative systems of connection.

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Today, over 200 artists, collectors and cultural practitioners across continents hold Artworld Passports, forming an expanding network of solidarity and shared imagination.