A CONCRETE DREAM
It only exists on paper, but the Zeitz MOCAA is already juicing up SA’s art market, writes Matthew Partridge
‘NEW kid on the block” is not an accurate description of Mark Coetzee, who left South Africa in 1989. But he’s certainly making waves — and fattening the wallets of the new kids on the local art block. Coetzee will be the managing director and chief curator of the planned Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art, which promises to be the biggest and most significant art museum the continent has seen.
To stock its walls and halls, he’s shopping up a storm in local contemporary galleries — and apparently driving up the prices commanded by emerging artists.
The Zeitz MOCAA will open in September 2016 at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. To be housed in the historical Grain Silo Complex, the Zeitz MOCAA has been designed by British “starchitect” Thomas Heatherwick, who has given it his signature stamp: a combination of space-age futurism with an organic feel.
Heatherwick unveiled his vision for the museum at the Design Indaba last week, following a presentation of his other designs — not least London’s 2012 Olympic Cauldron and the new London double-decker bus.
“Unlike most art museums,” Heatherwick says, “the Zeitz MOCAA will have its features on the inside rather than the outside.”
The Grain Silo complex is not the prettiest building in the world and presents a real challenge: how to turn a century-old industrial building into a visually compelling and functional sanctuary for art.
The inspiration for Heatherwick’s design comes from the original purpose of the structure, storing grain on behalf of a collective of Western Cape wheat farmers.
One of the difficulties that Heatherwick confronted was how to transform the core of the building, which
comprises 42 silos, into one penetrable space.
The solution was to literally slice through the structure, thereby exposing the interlocking silos, making a single void whose form takes its inspiration from a kernel of grain.
Given a relatively modest R500-million budget — not much by global showcase-museum standards — Heatherwick and company will save a whack by restoring and repurposing the original structure, rather than demolishing it.
Jochen Zeitz, the former CEO and chairman of the sports brand Puma, after whom the museum will be named, owns one of the largest and most representative collections of contemporary African art — which he has given to the museum.
Enter Coetzee, who comes into play as the public face of Zeitz MOCAA. “My lifelong dream has been to be involved with a museum in Africa,” he says.
A graduate of Stellenbosch University and UCT, Coetzee left South Africa in 1989, before returning to study. In 2000, he landed his major curatorship gig, managing the Rubell Collection in Miami.
A serendipitous meeting with Zeitz in Miami moved his dream forward: he told him about his ambitions for an international museum to be housed in Africa. The sportswear mogul proved a willing philanthropist, and backed the project.
Cut to the present and Coetzee’s aggressive buying of work from major galleries is, many say, hoisting the prices of many young artists’ work.
Some have been taken aback by his sudden impact on an insular community. He has even been painted by some as the new don of the local art world.
Asked how he feels about this reputation, Coetzee is candid. “It’s no secret that I’m building a power base,” he tells me, “but to say that I’m responsible for a boom is misguided.”
African art has recently become the flavour of the month on other continents, with a growing number of foreign museums, fairs and publications turning their eye to art from developing economies.
And contemporary African art is relatively cheap. The high investment trend reflects a rising stock in African creativity.
“Africa is hot right now. That’s going to change and at some stage it’s going to move away — to wherever else is in fashion.”
But the legacy for Coetzee is to be found in the lasting sustainability of a “major institution that keeps giving good shows”.
And the choice of Cape Town as the venue for the Zeitz MOCAA? Coetzee says the decision was a pragmatic one. “We did feasibility studies in Bamako, Nairobi, Joburg and Cape Town.” As the most visited place in Africa, the Waterfront ended up being the logical choice.
Coetzee believes the museum will have a dramatic impact on the art of the continent. “It’s got to compete with major international players, and it’s got to be taken seriously.
“Once a work comes into the museum’s collection, it can’t be sold.”
But if you’re wondering whether to flog that Irma Stern in your attic to him, look elsewhere: his aggressive acquisition policy will not include historical work.
“It’s a 21st-century institution that will look at work from the year 2000 onwards — cuttingedge and contemporary.”
In a climate in which public art museums face severe budget cuts and institutional neglect, Coetzee and Zeitz MOCAA promise to deliver a bold, privately funded alternative.
Our finest artists now export their major works abroad but soon that tide may turn.