Summer/fall 2019 exhibition programme

Izicwangciso Zezethu…
Nobukho Nqaba

We make plans, but to what extent can we govern the future?

This exhibition is an autobiographical reflection of the artist’s childhood home and upbringing. It highlights the precariousness of daily life within an informal settlement in Grabouw, a small town in South Africa. 

As in many informal settlements, the sudden announcement “Kuyatshaaa!” (there is fire) was often followed by a desperate dash to gather important documents and a sudden stampede as everyone fled to the community hall. Once there, families congregated in groups, and were covered in grey blankets. The blanket, an ashen cape, a temporary source of comfort, was gifted by the governing authorities. The exhibition’s Xhosa title—Izicwangciso Zezethu—means “we make plans.” We may plan our lives, but we have no control of the outcome.  It is a game of chance.

On view: August 1-October 20, 2019

Why Should I Hesitate: Putting Drawings To Work
William Kentridge

The largest and most comprehensive survey of Kentridge’s career to date, this definitive exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA spans from his seminal series “Ten Drawings for Projection” (1989–2011) reflecting on apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, to his most recent large-scale installation, More Sweetly Play the Dance (2016). The exhibition unveils a new site-specific sound installation in Zeitz MOCAA’s unique BMW Atrium, Almost Don’t Tremble (2019), a collaboration between the artist and five South African composers; Waldo Alexander, Nhlanhla Mhlangu, Philip Miller, Neo Muyanga, Kyle Shepherd. 

This exhibition leads the visitor through a historical survey of the acclaimed South African artist’s work over 40 years, linking the threads of inspiration: drawing as a process of thinking and acting in the world. Kentridge has defined a practice which looks at the condition of world history and its bearing on the African context. The survey extends to map the ideological imprints of colonialism, apartheid, socialism and the neo-colonial moment, through the window of the Studio. 

Why Should I Hesitate is an exhibition taking place across two Cape Town based institutions simultaneously. The sculptural component of this exhibition will take place at Norval Foundation while all other media are hosted at Zeitz MOCAA. 

On view: August 24, 2019–March 23, 2020

Acts at the Crossroads
Otobong Nkanga

Otobong Nkanga, acclaimed Nigerian multi-disciplinary artist, uses natural elements from the earth, (transmuting) working them into allegories of geographies, migration and the constructed values inherent to those spaces. 

These materials serve as biographical depictions outside of their pseudo-scientific readings, the artist’s careful observation giving voice to the struggle to maintain a clear foothold in our disrupted epoch.

Presented as a solo survey, this exhibition serves to crystalize a form of looking, to facilitate a way of reading these derivatives translated into patterns, disruptions and cycles. 

On view: November 21, 2019–February 23, 2020

Laying bare: Studio process at the museum
Kemang Wa Lehulere 

The Studio in the museum captures the essence of the making process—revealing the inspirations and fascination in the artist’s use of material. Functioning as a live working space, it deals with germination, experimentation and collaboration. Process becomes a marker of time, highlighting the ways in which the transient nature of objects and their intrinsic value shape and shift.

South African artist, Kemang Wa Lehulere, reacts to the historical legacy of geography and object by dislodging his working materials from their socio-historical placement, re-orchestrating their functions to respond to the working paradigm within The Studio at Zeitz MOCAA. This network of ideas and materials articulates new forms of language and different ways of exposing their performance within the historical context of the museum, where the attributes of creation are revealed to the viewer. 

On view: December 19, 2019-June 14, 2020