ArtZeitz MOCAA, an art fair and Norval Foundation

In two months in Cape Town we visited two museums of contemporary art and a big art fair. In short: if you love contemporary art, Cape Town is a very good place. There are many local artists, and the works are about what the country is going through.

In short

Zeitz MOCAA

We got to the Zeitz MOCAA museum of contemporary art at the Waterfront on 8 February, moving day, between checking out of one place and checking into another. The museum is amazing.

The building alone is reason enough to come. It’s a former grain elevator (Grain Silo) from the 1920s. It’s 57 metres tall and was once the tallest building in Cape Town. It was converted by Heatherwick Studio, Thomas Heatherwick’s studio: the concrete silo tubes were cut out from the inside, creating a huge atrium. The museum opened in September 2017.

The exhibitions vary, and many are about what matters to the country now: national identity, independence, history. And there are lots of local artists.

The contemporary art fair

At the end of February the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, a big contemporary art fair, is held at the CTICC convention centre. In 2026 it was the 13th fair, the theme was “Listen”, and there were 126 participants. We went on the last day.

I go to such fairs in many countries, and they’re very similar to each other. But here there are lots of local artists, and the works reflect the culture. What stuck in my mind:

• A work made of toothpicks. On the wall, an abstraction that looks like a fluffy creature. Until I came close, I had no idea what it was made of. It turned out to be toothpicks. I adore such unexpected surprises in art.
• All of Africa on one canvas. A huge painting the size of a triptych: waterfalls, mountains, canyons, elephants, a rhino, penguins, herons, and flowers in the foreground. Lots of tiny details, you can look at it for a long time.
• A pizza on a cross. The fair also invites foreign galleries. One Italian gallery had a Catholic cross, and where the beams meet, a Margherita pizza. I laughed a lot: it’s so Italian.
• People. At such fairs there are always plenty of fashionable people, but here especially, and lots of clothes with African motifs.

Tickets are sold online. They cost us about 385 rand per person (≈ $24).

Norval Foundation

Another very good museum: Norval Foundation in Steenberg, in the south of Cape Town. I was crazy about this place: the architecture, the landscape design, the installations in the park, all together very pleasing to the eye. And inside everything is done very well.

The museum opened in 2018. The building stands between a road and a restored wetland, and behind it is a sculpture garden among native plants. Tunnels were even built under the road so that the rare western leopard toads can reach the wetland to spawn.

We caught the exhibition “Wild Life” by Brett Murray, one of South Africa’s best-known satirists. It’s more than 80 sculptures over 40 years, and almost all are animals in which you recognise people. The exhibition runs until 22 November 2026.

From a distance the figures are very cute. But each is about something sharp, political, sad:

• Frogs. Two sit on top of each other: black stone on top, and below they seem to be submerged in red marble. It’s about the frog that is heated gradually: it doesn’t jump out and dies.
• The golden calf. Smooth, sweet and innocent.

I really liked that these works are topical. And then we walked around the park for a long time: it’s gorgeous.

We paid 220 rand per person (≈ $14) for entry in March. Now it’s 330 rand for foreigners aged 25 and over, and free in your birthday month.