Inside the Zeitz MOCAA

Cape Town’s formerly neglected waterfront Silo District is now home to the continent’s first major museum of contemporary African art, an opening that paves the way for the area’s redevelopment as an art and design hub. Heather Richardson visits the groundbreaking Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art.

Dozens of bricks hang at various levels, suspended from the ceiling by red rope, creating a tight maze we must navigate in order to get to the other side. Our guide for the evening, Jochen Zeitz – the German ex-CEO of Puma, philanthropist and the founder of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA) – explains that the bricks are a reference to those thrown over bridges at cars during apartheid in South Africa. By physically experiencing the exhibit, the artist, Kendell Geers, meant for visitors to get a tiny taste of the oppression and anger of the apartheid era.

It is just one of the many politically and socially charged displays in the Zeitz MOCAA, a much-anticipated opening in Cape Town that has turned a spotlight onto the continent’s art scene.

The MOCAA is a not-for-profit partnership between Zeitz and the v&a Waterfront, the latter of whom funded the redevelopment of the site and donated the building. Meeting with the v&a Waterfront organisation was one of the factors that accounted for Cape Town being chosen as the site of the collection. “Cape Town is an incredibly beautiful, diverse and creative city, a gateway to Africa, which is enjoyed by both locals and visitors from all over the world,” says Zeitz. “[The v&a Waterfront] were considering how best to repurpose the historic grain silo, and we were building a worldclass collection of African contemporary art, which we wanted to house in Africa. It was the meeting of these two visions that resulted in the creation of Zeitz MOCAA.”

The building of the MOCAA has attracted just as much attention as the museum itself. Designed by British architect, Thomas Heatherwick, the museum is housed in a reimagined grain silo – at one point, the tallest building in Southern Africa – at Cape Town’s v&a Waterfront. From the outside, the building is an imposing L-shaped bulk of concrete. It is topped with five rows of oversized, convex windows behind which is The Silo, a luxury hotel that opened in March 2017.

In September, the museum – housed in the bottom half and back end of the building – officially opened, revealing a striking atrium, hollowed out in the shape of a grain of corn by diamond-tipped blades. Beneath the skylights above hangs a huge dragon of fabric, bone and dripping ribbons, based on the Xhosa lightning bird myth and created by Capetonian artist Nicholas Hlobo.

Beyond the atrium are nine floors of art from Africa and its diaspora (Zeitz suggests three to four hours to truly enjoy the whole museum), all of which are from Zeitz’s personal collection, donated on long-term loan.

“I love Africa and have had a home in Kenya for the last 14 years, but my passion for the continent started decades ago,” Zeitz tells me. “During that period, I was buying art for myself privately, but the decision to build a substantial collection only came about when I met Mark [Coetzee, the chief curator and executive director of the museum]. I was ceo of Puma at the time and ended up sponsoring the groundbreaking show 30 Americans (the first significant exhibition of African-American artists and still travelling today), which Mark curated. This was undoubtedly the starting point for me. The show ignited my passion to build a representative collection of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora to return one day to Africa.”

The chosen artwork – including paintings, photographs, sculptures and video installations – are often strong, powerful and do not shy away from uncomfortable issues. The French-born, Gabonese artist, Owanto, tackles female genital mutilation (fgm) in an old black and white photograph of a young, naked girl, her legs spread for the circumcision ceremony, her genitals covered with a bright yellow porcelain flower overlain on the image.

Other pieces look at identity: Thania Petersen’s collage of gaudy, provocative selfies in Flamingo explores the use of social media and how it factors into modern identities and self-portrayal. Another of Peterson’s self-portraits shows her stood on top of a mausoleum in Surat, India (the burial place of the men who forcibly moved Indonesians to the Western Cape) wearing a scarlet dress, its long train flowing dramatically down to the ground, as the artist, who is of Indonesian heritage, visually dominates the colonial space.

Of the criteria for choosing the artwork for the museum, Zeitz says: “We are trying to ensure that the museum is as representative of Africa and its diaspora from the 21st century as possible. This was undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges we faced. Africa is so diverse, and it is important that we reflect the regional and cultural differences in the work that is shown in the museum.”

Aside from the museum being a major coup for the city of Cape Town, it is hugely important for the artists of Africa and the diaspora. “I strongly believe that every part of the world should have its own cultural institutions to help shape its own dialogue and inform other people’s perceptions,” Zeitz says. “I didn’t feel there were enough opportunities for the creativity and artistic talent in Africa to be presented to the rest of the world. Zeitz mocaa offers that opportunity.”

Of some of the criticism he has received from Western press as to whether the museum rightly defines African art or should have been founded by a non-African, Zeitz is unperturbed: “It’s not for everyone else to decide whether this is a good thing. It’s for Africans to decide.”

“I have heard many people talk of this as being Africa’s moment,” Zeitz continues. “But we still have a long way to go. It is important that we do not rest or treat this as a passing moment; we are seeking to build something that will sustain itself for generations and that has a lasting impact for Africa and beyond.”

Visit Cape Town and explore the city’s art scene as part of a 10-day trip that includes a South African safari and Victoria Falls, from US$7,050 per person. For more information, please contact travel designers Tess van der Walt (tessa@jacadatravel. com, based in Cape Town) or Kit Wong (kit@jacadatravel.com, based in Hong Kong).