By VAR DBN

Background: Concerned members of Durban’s visual arts community, having issued a ‘Declaration of Crisis in the Visual Arts in eThekwini’ statement, identified the Durban Art Gallery (DAG) as needing intervention. This led to the group embarking on an unofficial ‘stakeholders satisfaction survey’ of the DAG. The group, working under the banner of VAR DBN (Visual Arts Revolution Durban) presented the results of this survey at a public meeting at the ASAI Art Resource Centre at DUT on 31 July 2025. The meeting took the form of a panel discussion, featuring Mduduzi Xakaza (Director, DAG) and Mario Pissarra (representative of VAR DBN), moderated by Nise Malange (Director, BAT Centre).