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The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is one of Africa’s newest and most significant cultural institutions based in Cape Town, South Africa, and opened in September 2017. But its story began several years earlier, when the South African fashion mogul, Jochen Zeitz, together with the architect Thomas Heatherwick, initiated the project to convert a former silo warehouse in the port of Cape Town into a contemporary art museum.
The Silo, which once contained grain, has undergone an extraordinary transformation, becoming an iconic architectural structure. Heatherwick and his team created an innovative design that kept the original aesthetic of the silo intact while transforming the interior into a modern exhibition space.
The museum was founded to celebrate and promote contemporary African art and its global influence. The Zeitz MOCAA collection includes works by highly talented African artists, both emerging and established, offering a platform to explore Africa’s complex narratives and identities through visual art.
In this interview, we delve into some aspects of this ambitious project with Claire Breukel, Head of Global Patron of Zeitz MOCAA, including the exhibition project When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting which for the occasion the museum has become a platform for African and diaspora artists to express their unique perspectives and personal narratives. The works exhibited addressed a wide range of themes, including colonization, racism, resistance, cultural rebirth, and empowerment.
The opening of the museum was greeted with great enthusiasm both nationally and internationally and has helped position Cape Town as a major cultural destination on the global art scene. The museum has quickly become a must-see for art lovers visiting South Africa and has helped raise the profile of contemporary African art globally. So, let’s get started!
What is your museum about, its reason-to-be and what is your work there?
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a Pan African and Pan Diasporic public not-for-profit institution dedicated to promoting and preserving contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Located in Cape Town, South Africa, Zeitz MOCAA produces and presents cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions and art historical knowledge to enhance the careers of Africa’s most talented artists in the 21st century and beyond.
We aim to be a catalyst and generator of rich dialogues surrounding artistic histories with roots on the continent. As Head of Zeitz MOCAA’s Global Patrons, my role is to program and organize the presence of Zeitz MOCAA’s supporters and advocates internationally.
Working alongside my colleague Tiffany Andrews whose key areas are local and the continent, we lead the Zeitz MOCAA Global Council of Supporters chaired by Acha Leke, including members Yinka Shonibare, Julie Mehretu, Pulane Kingston, Wangechi Mutu, Michael Silver, and Stephanie Thomas, Joanna Masiyiwa, Bame Pule, among others.
Continue on MuseumWeek magazine.