V&A Waterfront has partnered with Jochen Zeitz to create Africa’s first major contemporary art museum.

Cape Town, 20 November 2013 – V&A Waterfront and Jochen Zeitz have announced a unique partnership to create a new major cultural institution focused on collecting, preserving, researching and exhibiting cutting-edge contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum will be named the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art for Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), after the famous Zeitz Collection, which will be the museum’s founding collection.

Zeitz MOCAA – Artist Impressions

Considered by many to be the leading collection of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, Jochen Zeitz provides a large acquisition budget to house his collection in perpetuity, defray the museum’s operating costs, and enable the museum to acquire new and significant works of art over time in order to remain on the edge of contemporary cultural production.

Africa’s most visited destination, with over 24 million visitors a year, V&A Waterfront is the perfect place to share African cultural artifacts and ideas with the world.

David Green, CEO of V&A Waterfront, said: “Given the history and socio-economic role that V&A Waterfront plays in South Africa, and the huge visitor numbers it achieves each year, we felt that this gift to our country where commerce and culture meet was perfectly appropriate. We want to continue to position the Waterfront rightly as a social nexus for all Capetonians, South Africans and international visitors who enjoy celebrating culture.”

Spanning over 9,500 square meters (102,000 square feet), Zeitz MOCAA is one of the world’s leading contemporary art museums. Zeitz MOCAA will be spread over nine floors, of which 6,000 square meters (65,000 square feet) will be devoted to exhibition space. Through an entire floor dedicated to education, the museum cultivates new art-loving and museum-going audiences.

Zeitz MOCAA is scheduled to welcome its first visitors at the end of 2016. Until the extensive refurbishment of the silo complex is complete, selections from the Zeitz collection will be exhibited in the Zeitz MOCAA Pavilion, a museum-quality temporary exhibition space also located on the V&A Waterfront. The first exhibition, which opens on November 23rd at the Zeitz MOCAA pavilion, will feature the work of Swazi artist Nandifa Mntambo.

The recently released independent economic impact study conducted on the V&A Waterfront clearly demonstrates the impact it has had on the city, state and country. Zeitz MOCAA brings a new dimension: a cultural institution of global importance with both an intellectual and cultural focus.

David Green continued: “This is a unique public-private partnership in South Africa that will further revitalize the Silo area, spurring a venture that is not-for-profit in nature and specifically designed for the enjoyment of all people on the continent.”

Jochen Zeitz said: “Over the past 20 years, Africa has played an important role in both my professional and personal life. My collection has been strategically built over the years, especially with the goal of establishing an internationally relevant public contemporary art museum in Africa. After considering several cities, I am excited to partner with the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, which will be located in an iconic location and historic landmark building in an iconic city. This will make my collection accessible to local, national and continental audiences.” and audiences around the world. ”
Jochen Zeitz

Zeitz MOCAA’s new Executive Director and Chief Curator is Mark Coetzee, who has an internationally recognized reputation and track record overseeing best-practice-defining cultural institutions. Examples include the “Miami Model” with the Rubell collection and the new ground-breaking corporate responsibility model through PUMAVision.
Coetzee relocates to South Africa after a 25-year international career leading Zeitz MOCAA. Mark Coetzee said: “Zeitz MOCAA will reimagine museums in an African context. We celebrate Africa preserving its own cultural heritage, writing its own history and defining itself on its own terms. V&A Waterfront and Jochen Zeitz’s vision will have a major impact on the visual arts world and on Cape Town.”

The height of the grain silo and its strong silhouette make it stand out as an unusual structure within the V&A Waterfront. The reuse of the structure to house Zeitz MOCAA combines ingenuity, resourcefulness and beauty in a way that is unique to Africa, and pays great homage to the works on display.

Zeitz MOCAA forms part of the master plan for the Silo District, which includes a mixed-use residential, commercial, leisure and hotel development, including a converted grain silo as the focal point of a public plaza. The architect for the new museum will be announced in February 2014.

Corporate image provided by Margot Gutteridge