NEW OPENINGS
The museum building, a former grain silo, is located on the V&A Waterfront
Z IS FOR ZEITZ An A to Z of Africa’s brand new modern art museum
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Alice Davis, managing editor, Attractions Management
he highly anticipated Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) opened in Cape Town, South Africa, in September – the largest museum of its kind in Africa and the first major museum on the continent dedicated to modern art from Africa and its diaspora. Its founder, Jochen Zeitz, says: “I built my collection with a museum in Africa always in mind. The fact that these works will now be accessible to all is a very emotional thing for me personally and, ultimately, gives the art true purpose.” The museum is a stunning conversion from a historic grain silo complex structure,
A cross-section shows the layout of the museum complex 58
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which has been reimagined by British architect Thomas Heatherwick. Located on the city’s Victoria & Albert Waterfront with Table Mountain as its backdrop, the 1920s silo building – for a while, the tallest in South Africa – had become an iconic structure. The design team were tasked with giving new life to the building, which had been out of use since 1990. The galleries and the atrium space at the centre of the museum have been carved from the silos’ dense cellular structure of forty-two tubes. There are 6,000sqm (64,500sq ft) of exhibition space over 100 gallery areas, a rooftop sculpture garden, storage and conservation areas, a bookshop, a restaurant, bar, and reading rooms. The museum houses a costume institute and centres dedicated to photography, film, performative practice and art education. “The idea of turning a giant disused concrete grain silo made from 116 vertical tubes into a new kind of public space was weird and compelling from the beginning,” says Heatherwick, founder of Heatherick Studio. “We were excited by the opportunity to unlock this formerly dead structure and transform it into somewhere for people to see and enjoy the most incredible artworks from the continent of Africa.” AM 4 2017 ©CYBERTREK 2017