Explore Zeitz MOCCA

Take some time to explore Zeitz MOCCA while you’re in Cape Town! The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCCA) sits along the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Its location makes it a perfect activity as part of a full-day adventure at the waterfront or as an escape from unpredictable rains.

Zeitz MOCCA is the largest museum of contemporary African art in the world. The museum opened in September 2017.

However, the building is much older! The museum and the Silo Hotel are part of the original grain silo that was completed in August 1924. For a time, it was the tallest building in Sub-Sharan Africa. The grain silo served as an export facility and was a major player in Cape Town’s and South African’s agricultural economies.

Though the museum is excellent, if you’ve only got a short time in Cape Town then you may skip this. The first time I visited Cape Town (for work), I didn’t end up going here so don’t feel too bad if you miss out!

The Basics

The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday: 10 am- 6 pm.

Entry is R210. My American credit card didn’t work at the machines. For ease upon entering, you should buy your ticket online (which is what I ended up doing).

The museum website says you can spend a whole day here but I’m not too sure about that for the average person. I spent two hours at Zeitz MOCCA, including some wandering of the basement silo tunnels and having tea at the rooftop restaurant. During my visit, one floor of the museum was closed so maybe I’d add an extra 30 minutes for that if it’s open while you’re visiting.

There are 6 floors of the museum, though exhibits are only active on floors 4,3, and 2. Additionally, there is a small exhibit space for films on level 1. The 5th floor is admin offices and is off-limits to visitors.

Explore Zeitz MOCCA Exhibits

There doesn’t seem to be a permeant exhibit at Zeitz MOCCA. The exhibits I describe below are ending October 2021 and Jan 2022! It’s recommended you take the lift to the 6th floor and then work your way down.

If you want to explore more art than just Zeitz MOCCA, you can also head to the South African National Gallery (It will just take an hour and it’s at the Company Gardens).

6th floor

Here you’ll find the rooftop restaurant and outdoor space. The restaurant serves basic burgers, sandwiches, drinks, tea, and coffee. Though the views are nice, I wouldn’t choose to eat here when there are so many other options around.

Walk to the rooftop and you’ll basically be looking into the Silo Hotel. Take pics then go down to the 4th floor.

After you explore Zeitz MOCCA, you may want to return to the rooftop restaurant for a tea or coffee to enjoy the views, just as I did!

Bathrooms are located on the 6th floor as well.

4th floor

Exhibit Space

Two Together

This exhibit ran from November 2019-January 2022. It showcased local artists and international artists of the African Diaspora. As the museum states: “each gallery contains a pair: either two objects, or multiple works by two artists, or two major themes – either in dialogue, as counterpoints, or in sync.”

The first piece I walked into was this mythological Zulu impundulu (eng: lighting bird) by Nicholas Hlobo. In isiZulu, it is called a “bird of the heavens.” This piece was paired with faceless portraits of female spiritual entities by Taiye Idahor.

The second piece that I was moved by was by Sethembile Msezane. Msezane used hair portraits to describe her matriarchal Zulu ancestral lineage. The hairpiece in the middle was dipped in sea salt to signify the forced migration of people across the ocean. It references slaves that were moved to a Portuguese colony in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa. This piece was paired with a series of 19th-century style handbills by Glenn Ligon about a runaway slave named George in the American South.

3rd floor

Exhibit Space

Home is Where the Art is

The 3rd-floor exhibit was my favorite and it’s a shame it’s ending at the end of October 2021. Go there while you can! The exhibit ran for a year and work was collected from artists, children, students, and hobbyists around Cape Town. There are over 2000 pieces of art across the gallery and many were created recently… as recently as the first lockdown in South Africa at the end of March 2020. The exhibit celebrates the people of Cape Town.

2nd floor

Exhibit Space

Alfredo Jaar: The Rwanda Project

The Rwanda Project is a photography exhibit that runs until mid-January 2022, “largely derived from investigations and photojournalistic field research in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, this exhibition seeks to investigate how one can engage with trauma as an outsider and also serves as a critique to the world’s indifference and a lack of global visibility to the atrocities in Rwanda at that time.”

There were two pieces that were the most striking to me. In the first, there is an investigation of 17 prints of the magazine Newsweek. It contrasts the headlines of the week to the realities of what was occurring in Rwanda.

The second included several black boxes with a description of the picture inside the box. During Jaar’s time documenting the Rwandan genocide, he captured photographs of many dead bodies, but these were never released or displayed publically.

Kassaram

I use the words of the museum website to explain this gallery: “KASSARAM is an open studio investigation by Thania Petersen as part of Zeitz MOCAA’s Atelier Residency program. KASSARAM means a big mess, out of place or upside down. KASSARAM is taken from the title of Petersen’s most recent film which analyses strategies used in creating and perpetuating cultural divides amongst people of colour through art, from colonialism to our present day.”

Honestly, I didn’t quite understand the exhibit. But it definitely had the intention of looking like a real workshop and workspace.

1st floor

Entrance and gift shop

When I visited there was a video running on the theme of “Unfinished Camp.” The section of the film I watched flashed between a built house and an empty plot, seemingly on the same plot of land.

The gift shop had some nice cards, prints, and local crafts (like beaded items).

G floor

Bathrooms and the Silo tunnels

Check out the Silo tunnels and levers. You can also head to the center of the silo and look up!

Visited: October 2021

Did you explore Zeitz MOCCA? Let me know what you thought in the comments!