SAVAH can trace its history back to 1984, with the founding of South African association of Art and Architectural Historians. The organization held its first annual conference in 1985 at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg campus), and changed its name to South African Association of Visual Art Historians (SAVAH) in 2005. Conferences have been held every year since 1984, except for a break in 2010 due to the large meeting planned in early 2011 in conjunction with CIHA, in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and in 2023 for operational reasons.
Information about conferences from 1984–2017 is adapted from Danielle Becker's 2017 doctoral thesis titled, South African art history: the possibility of decolonising a discourse (University of Cape Town). We would love to hear from you if you can provide any of the missing (or spot any incorrect) information.
| No. | Dates | Host/Venue | Theme/Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 39th | 23-28 September 2026 | Fine Art Department and the National Research Foundation Arts of Africa Research programme, at Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, Rhodes University, Makhanda | Reaching Sideways, Creating Our Ways |
| 38th | 25–27 September 2025 | Centre for Visual Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg | Practices of Entanglement |
| 37th | 12-14 September 2024 | Department of Visual Arts in the School of Visual and Performing Arts, Faculty of Humanities, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha | UNSETTLED: re-Collective Memories and Histories of South Africa |
| 36th | 19-23 September 2022 | Department of Fine Art & Jewellery Design, Faculty of Arts & Design, Durban University of Technology, City Campus, Durban | Romancing the Stone: Lithic Ecologies & Hard Places in South African Visual Culture [Breaking Rock] |
| 35th | 21-23 September 2021 | Host: Visual Narratives and Creative Outputs and the Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, Potchefstroom | Untold Stories |
| 34th | 12-13 September 2019 | The Faculty of Informatics and Design, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town | Speaking with ghosts: Hauntology, memory, nostalgia and other ways of engaging with past/present/future |
| 33rd | 4-6 July 2018 | Stellenbosch University | Troubling Legacies |
| 32nd | 28-30 September 2017 | Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Faculty of the Arts, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria | Alternative and Current Visual Discourses in South Africa and the Continent |
| 31st | 28-31 July 2016 | Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture, University of Johannesburg | Rethinking Art History and Visual Culture in a Contemporary Context |
| 30th | 10-12 September 2015 | Centre for Visual Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg | Power and Visual Culture |
| 29th | 3-5 July 2014 | University of the Free State, Bloemfontein | |
| 28th | 5-8 September 2013 | University of Cape Town | Visual Arts and Art History Now: What? How? Why? |
| 27th | 4-7 July 2012 | University of South Africa, Pretoria | Visual Dialogues: South Africa in Conversation |
| 26th | 12-15 January 2011 | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg | Other Views: Art History in (South) Africa and the Global South. A colloquium organised by SAVAH under the aegis of the Comité international d'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA) |
| * | 1-2 October 2010 | University of Johannesburg | Dialogues: a SAVAH Postgraduate Symposium (* instead of conference as large CIHA conference planned for 2011) |
| 25th | 9-11 July 2009 | University of Pretoria | The Politics of Change: Looking backwards and forwards |
| 24th | 4–6 September 2008 | Stellenbosch University | Past the Last Post: The Post(s) in South Africa |
| 23rd | 13–16 September 2007 | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg | South African Art History in an African Context |
| 22nd | 2006 | Vaal University of Technology | Transformation/s in Visual Culture |
| 21st | 8–11 September 2005 | Rhodes University, Grahamstown | New Readings of Visual Culture in Southern Africa |
| 20th | 23–25 September 2004 | Centre for Visual Arts, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg | New Dep(art)ures: Recent Developments in Art and Architectural Research |
| 19th | 2003 | Stellenbosch University | Visual Studies in Contemporary South Africa |
| 18th | 12–13 July 2002 | University of Pretoria | Current Issues in Art, Art History and Architectural History in South Africa |
| 17th | 2001 | Department of Fine Arts, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg | Reception / Perception |
| 16th | 2000 | Rhodes University, Grahamstown | Art: Spaces and Contexts of Display |
| 15th | 24–26 September 1999 | Department of Fine Arts, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg | |
| 14th | 15–18 July 1998 | University of South Africa, Pretoria | Negotiating Identities |
| 13th | 11–13 September 1997 | Stellenbosch University | Making Art Making Meaning |
| 12th | 9–10 August 1996 | Department of Fine Arts, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg | |
| 11th | July 1995 | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg | The Mechanisms of Power |
| 10th | 14–16 July 1994 | Stellenbosch University | |
| 9th | 7–9 July 1993 | Natal Technikon | Democratising Art and Art/Architectural History in South Africa |
| 8th | 13–15 July 1992 | University of South Africa, Pretoria | Revised Frameworks and Extended Boundaries in Research and Education |
| 7th | 17–19 July 1991 | University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein | The communication of world visions |
| 6th | 11–13 July 1990 | University of Cape Town | Current Perspectives in South African Art and Architecture |
| 5th | 17–19 July 1989 | University of Natal, Durban | Diversity and Interaction |
| 4th | 1988 | University of South Africa, Pretoria | Art and Copyright |
| 3rd | 10–12 September 1987 | Stellenbosch University | Re-writing the Art and Architectural History of Southern Africa |
| 2nd | 17–19 July 1986 | University of the Witwatersrand | Art and Social Change |
| 1st | 1–3 July 1985 | Department of Fine Arts, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg |
