The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa, is the first major museum in Africa dedicated to contemporary art. The Zeitz MOCAA collects and exhibits twenty-first century art from Africa and its Diaspora. The museum has its home in a repurposed historic Grain Silo complex at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, it features over one hundred galleries.
In the run-up to the opening of the Zeitz MOCAA in September 2017, VernissageTV had the chance to have a look at the new museum and speak with the Executive Director and Chief Curator of the museum, Mark Coetzee, and the museum’s Curator at Large for Photography, Azu Nwagbogu. We also interviewed the artist Nandipha Mntambo, whose early career retrospective is one of the opening exhibitions of the museum, and David Green, the CEO at V&A Waterfront.
In this video, we speak with Mark Coetzee, who talks about the importance of the new museum, the goals and the basic concept of the Zeitz MOCAA, and the exhibition program:
“…our mission really in a nutshell is to collect, preserve, research and exhibit cutting-edge artifacts from the 21st century from Africa and its diaspora…” (Mark Coetzee, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa)
The Zeitz MOCAA has its home in the Grain Silo complex at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The historic landmark was originally constructed in 1921. The architect Thomas Heatherwick transformed the silo into a museum with over hundred galleries and 6000 square meters exhibition space. Two of the architectural highlights of building are the cathedral-like central atrium that was carved from the cellular concrete structure of the silo, and the pillowed glazing panels that bulge outward as if gently inflated.
In the following video, David Green, the CEO at V&A Waterfront and Co-chair of the Board of Trustees of the MOCAA Foundation (together with Jochen Zeitz), talks about how the museum came about, the institutions and people involved, V&A Waterfront and the history of the Grain Silo complex, and the architectural highlights and challenges.
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