Zeitz MOCAA
A dramatic museum of contemporary African art carved from a historic grain silo.
Zeitz MOCAA is a public, nonprofit museum in Cape Town's V&A Waterfront. It collects, preserves, researches and exhibits contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. It opened in September 2017 and is often described as holding the largest museum collection of contemporary African and diaspora art. The collection covers painting, sculpture, photography, installation and performance by both established and emerging artists.
The museum is inside the old Grain Silo, a concrete grain elevator built in the early 1920s that was once the tallest structure in the city. Heatherwick Studio converted it by cutting large open spaces out of the tightly packed concrete tubes. The result is a tall, cathedral-like atrium whose curved shape is based on a single grain of corn, with daylight falling through glazed caps at the top. The building keeps its industrial character and has about 6,000 square metres of exhibition space across several floors.
Besides its permanent and temporary galleries, the museum runs education and research programmes. These include the BMW Centre for Art Education, fellowships, and an Atelier that gives studio space to Cape Town-based artists and collectives.
Highlights
- Converted 1920s Grain Silo with a carved atrium designed by Heatherwick Studio
- Major museum collection of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora
- Light pours through glazed caps at the top of the old concrete silo tubes
- BMW Centre for Art Education and an Atelier residency for Cape Town artists
- Open daily in the Silo District of the V&A Waterfront
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
