New art museum set to be largest in Africa
WHEN it opens in September‚ the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa will be the largest of its kind on the continent.
The museum has received another major boost ahead of its highly anticipated unveiling in Cape Town.
Renowned American photographer Roger Ballen‚ who has been living in South Africa for 34 years‚ announced this week that he would be donating more than 1 000 of his published works to the Centre of Photography at Zeitz MOCA.
Ballen‚ whose black-and-white stills are often described as dark‚ is known for his unusual approach.
In 2012, he became a pop culture icon when he directed an award-winning music video for South African Zef band Die Antwoord.
Now Ballen’s works are set to be exhibited in one of the Zeitz MOCA’s six centres‚ whose mission is to “collect‚ preserve‚ research‚ and exhibit cutting-edge contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora”.
Museum executive director Mark Coetzee said: “The museum was started with the idea that other people, including artists‚ collectors and philanthropists would come in.
“To have the community come in and take ownership is very important for the mission and survival of the museum.”
Ballen moved to South Africa in 1982 when he married his Johannesburg-born wife Lyn- da. The couple still live there‚ and Ballen’s son Paul is now the maker of the increasingly popular Paul’s Homemade Ice Cream.
The centre would be used to create a standard of photography that would make a contribution to the field‚ Ballen said.
“The purpose of the foundation will be to educate‚” he said.
“We’ll have talks and make catalogues‚ and when people go to the shows we’ll have people there who can tell them about what the show is about.
“We want to advance the understanding of art photography and educate people on how to look at the photographs and how to reflect on it.”
Coetzee said there were three main criteria when the Zeitz MOCA project was started.
Former judge Albie Sachs is a board member.
Coetzee said: “The first is accessibility for all.
“There will be free days [and] education and training programmes to ensure that everyone has access.
“Our second criterion is to be as representative as possible – a platform for artists from Africa to tell the African story according to their viewpoint and position.
“And finally, we want our artists to compete at the highest possible standards with any other major international museum.”
The museum will open on September 22 at the V&A Waterfront, with 80 galleries with permanent collections of various art forms from a number of donors.