Celebrating five years

September 22 marks the fifth anniversary of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), which opened in 2017 to great expectations. 

Since then, the museum has racked up accolades such as “World’s Greatest Place” by Time in 2018, Best New Public Building in Wallpaper*’s Design Awards 2018, Leading Culture Destination of the Year 2018, and spots on Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Travel 2018 and Culture Trip Wishlist’s Top 5 Art and Design Destinations in 2019. This year, it also made BBC Culture’s list of Ten Most Ingenious Buildings.

During the past three years, with Koyo Kouoh at its helm, the museum has undergone a thorough transformation from its initial outlook — brought about by a renewed vision that includes positioning the institution as a civic space and an active agent that caters to and nurtures society. In this role as a site for public dialogue, exhibitions, research and collection, and storytelling that contemporary art enables, the institution promotes narratives that are important to building communities.

Nowhere is this more conspicuous than in the exhibitions and programming held at Zeitz MOCAA over the last few years. From major retrospectives by internationally acclaimed South African artists William Kentridge and Tracey Rose and programmes and exhibitions such as Alfredo Jaar: The Rwanda Project, Home Is Where the Art Is and Indigo Waves: Re-Navigating the Afrasian Sea and Notions of Diaspora that brought community and representation to the fore, the museum has acted as a facilitator and producer of a dense discourse of the artistic histories of Africa and its diaspora. 

Kouoh has also driven original artist and curatorial publications, available to purchase at the museum shop and online, and established the Zeitz MOCAA Global Council, an international group that supports Zeitz MOCAA’s vision and mission. The Council counts renowned artists Julie Mehretu and Wangechi Mutu, as well as former Art Basel Global Head of VIP Relations Michèle Sandoz and Africa Lighthouse Capital’s Bame Pule amongst its members, and is chaired by Acha Leke, Senior Partner and Chairman of McKinsey Africa and a member of Mckinsey’s Shareholders Council.

To celebrate its many achievements as well as highlight its ongoing journey to analyse and project the human experience from African perspectives, Zeitz MOCAA’s fifth birthday will be marked by free entry for the first 1,000 visitors on Sunday, September 25 between 1pm and 5pm. The museum’s sixth-floor restaurant, Ocular Lounge, will be offering cake and coffee/tea for R75 during this time. The anniversary is further marked by the recent opening of The Five Continents of All Our Desires, a site-specific commission by Joël Andrianomearisoa in the museum’s atrium, supported by Fonds Yarvahoussen, Madagascar, as well as its fundraising Gala + Party to be held on November 19 and themed Art & Opulence. The Gala will further be a precursor to the opening of another momentous group exhibition titled When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting.

Free entry for Zeitz MOCAA’s fifth anniversary will be available to the first 1,000 visitors on Sunday, September 25 between 1pm and 5pm.

The Five Continents of All Our Desires will be open through June 25, 2023. When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting will open on November 20, 2022. The Zeitz MOCAA Art & Opulence Gala Dinner and Party will be held at Zeitz MOCAA on November 19, 2022 with Gala tables and individual tickets as well as Party tickets available at zeitzmocaa.museum/gala. 

Zeitz MOCAA’s curatorial and exhibition programming is generously supported by Gucci. All proceeds from the annual fundraising event will support professional advancement and education at Zeitz MOCAA.