Exhibitions
Each of our gallery partners curated special exhibitions to align with the festival theme 'Other Worlding. The exhibitions mostly open on August 6 at 6pm.
Reserve Bank of Art
artHARARE
This group exhibition at artHARARE aligns seamlessly with the speculative essence of Other Worlding by reimagining the role of currency as more than just an economic tool. Here, currency becomes a vessel for storytelling, history, and alternative futures. In this speculative space, money is no longer confined to financial transactions but is transformed into a medium for cultural exchange, memory, and socio-political critique. Participating artists include Dan Halter, Chelsea Mahlangu, Richard Mudariki and Mandlenkosi Mavengedze
Adelheid Frackiewicz & Tebogo Matshana
AVA Gallery
The AVA presents two solo exhibitions. Adelheid Frackiewcz’s Drawing the Line shows how the artist’s sculpture and installation art involves processes that allow her to think and work through personal anxieties regarding the trauma of loss and death. Her interest in how her artmaking processes are comparable to conventional historical, as well as contemporary rituals which engage with death and loss, was sparked when she observed a mother and sister continually, over months, rebuild and maintain a roadside shrine which she passes regularly on her daily commute. Work by the artist depicted above. The solo exhibition Transposing Echoes aims to reinterpret and present animated visualisations of oral Setswana poems, bridging the gap between traditional and analogue literature and contemporary digital art and multimedia design practice. This exhibition by Tebogo Boikanyo Matshana seeks to create an immersive and interactive experience that allows visitors to engage with the rich cultural heritage of the Tswana-speaking people through innovative digital mediums
Truths informed by our pasts
Christopher Moller
At the heart of every culture lies a set of values passed down through generations, wisdom shared by parents, grandparents, elders, and community leaders. Though shaped by different religions, and traditions, these teachings are remarkably aligned in essence. They form a universal moral framework that has guided humanity for centuries. These value systems teach us the difference between right and wrong, the importance of truth over deception, kindness over cruelty, and justice over exploitation. They emphasise respect for others, for the natural world, for community, and for the sacred. These principles are not only cultural codes, but truths informed by our past drawn from lived experience, generational memory, and the lessons carried forward through time. In an era where histories are increasingly commodified, simplified, aestheticised, and sold the values embedded within them are often lost. What once served to teach, guide, and unify is reduced to surface-level representation. The danger lies not only in cultural misrepresentation but in the erosion of the ethical frameworks that once held communities together. But these inherited truths are not relics of the past. When carried forward with care and intention as seen by the practices of artists who form part of this exhibitiom, they become active tools that help us evolve, guide us to build better versions of ourselves, and offer a moral foundation for future generations. To honour these values is to honour our shared humanity, our deepest common ground and to ensure that the future we build remembers the truths that made us who we are. Participating artists include Michael Gah, Tony Gum, Azuka Muoh, Joseph Ntensibe (whose work After the Rain appears above), Lionel Mbayiwa, Olamide Ogunade, Nessi Penman, Frans Smit, Chelsea Young
Evidence of Things not Seen
EBONY/CURATED
This exhibition presents a selection of three associated artists, two of whom will be having their debut exhibition with the gallery. Through the work of Balekane Legoabe (1995) who explores the relationship between nature, spirituality, and identity, Abdesslem Ayed (1979), the Tunisian born artists preoccupied with the question of physical borders mediated through abstraction, and Nada Baraka (1990) (whose work Whirlwind above) as an Egyptian artist, pushing the boundaries of the speculative through her paintings which maintain an endless, active state of flux, swaying between abstract and surreal the exhibitions sets to explore futurity within decolonial speculative practices.. In response to the theme of Speculation and Other Worlding, we’ve combined these very different practices, each employing either abstract or dreamlike compositions drawing from familial or historical sources.
Rory Emmett & Sahlah Davids
Eclectica Contemporary
Eclectica Contemporary will be showcasing two solo exhibitions in their space, I thought I recognised you by Rory Emmett, and a solo exhibition by Sahlah Davids (whose work Beyond Castle Bridge is shown above) Unpicking and Recollecting is the title of Salhah Davids' exhibition. The pin, the bead, the ruching of fabric. The pin that pierces—but binds. The ongoing process of unpicking and recollecting takes form through layered, collected, and found fabrics, countless dressmaking pins, and glimmering beads. These materials become vessels for memory—tangible expressions of family stories passed down through generations. My father often reminds me: "You will know where you are going if you know where you come from." This connection to inherited narratives forms the root systems of identity, shaping and understanding of the present, and the future unknown. Fragments—both personal and collected—coalesce into sculptural forms reminiscent of crustaceans: grotesque yet beautiful. Inspired by emotional topographies, silhouettes, and imagined or remembered pathways, these works serve as physical manifestations of memory. Through textiles, beadwork, and found materials that often evoke the domestic, I reference the lives and profession of my Ouma, my aunts, my grandfather, and many others in my family who have worked, or continue to work, as seamstresses and tailors—a common trade within the Cape Muslim community. The people and scenes depicted in Emmett's works are derived from found photographs. Some are from my family archive, while some are not. The obfuscation of their visages is carried out in attempts to negotiate presence and absence – to invite viewers to witness moments of reflection, joy and pride beyond alienation from self. In my use of figuration, a careful process of painterly masking with colour and gesture results in communal facelessness. Through this addition and removal, an enquiry emerges which attempts to gently probe observer assumptions generated by beholding facelessness. A sense of familiarity is inevitable yet estranging. Do we encounter discomfort in the erasure of visage? Can personhood be granted, humanity accorded, or race assigned when recognition is obscured? Where does one place the faceless figure? Do we assume the erasure of race along with that of the visage, and unwittingly confirm that the visage remains the primary site of race construction? But which race is normative when we rest upon assumption? What remains is normative, though not neutral. “I thought I recognized you” becomes a statement and a question.
Colijn Strydom,
Mikky George, Samukelisiwe Majola, Rebaone Finger, Hannah Macfarlane, Kea Seema & Gwen Van Embden
Everard Read CIRCA
EVERARD READ will be showcasing two shows, namely, Colijn Strydom’s solo exhibition RUN, and the CUBICLE SERIES featuring six artists. The Cubicle Series is an ongoing platform at CIRCA Cape Town giving artists scope to exhibit smaller bodies of artworks and site specific installations for a two week period. Participating artists for the Cubicle Series are, Mikky George, Samukelisiwe Majola, Rebaone Finger, Hannah Macfarlane, Kea Seema, Gwen Van Embden Run is about the act of running. On the surface it is a series of paintings depicting this popular pastime. Figures run, stretch, sweat and stumble across the surface in candy shades of blue, orange, green and pink. ‘Run’ arose from Strydom’s own experiences: “In January 2024 I started running again. I was looking for a way to rethink my relationship to my body, and running was refreshingly direct and physical. I saw my limitations expand and I became hooked on the endorphins and potential.”Within Run, the delicate figures depicted hover somewhere between drawing and painting, balancing the immediacy of the former with the depth of the latter. This juxtaposition of methodologies emphasises the metaphorical aspects of running, the inner struggle, the physicality of creating, as well as the history of art. The artist explains: “I found that working with running figures inevitably required an environment for them to be in. Quickly, ideas around the depiction of space and landscape painting developed. Running became a kind of lens to engage with past and present painters. At times I embraced traditional Western perspectives and at others I moved towards more diagrammatic and decentralised viewpoints.”Running is a loaded and relational topic, tied to language, access to space, societal pressures, aesthetics, inner drive and escapism. In these paintings, Strydom’s runners inhabit a world that is theatrical, mythological and contemporary. Many of the figures, like Daphne and Apollo, come from classical mythology, while others have been taken from images of people running races today. As viewers, we are invited to reflect on our own pace of life and consider how we navigate the world around us.
Motherhood: Duality & Paradox
Iziko South African National Gallery
Brings together over 70 artists across diverse media and time periods in South Africa to explore the complexities of mothering. This exhibition challenges, redefines, and expands our understanding of motherhood in a rapidly changing world. Motherhood is a paradox – tender yet fierce, intimate yet universal, idealised yet diminished. It is often sentimentalised or politicised, yet remains one of the most profound human experiences, shaped by cultural expectations, economic realities and personal struggles. Through an intersectional lens, artists explore how race, class, sexuality and different identities shape the experience of motherhood. They challenge mainstream narratives, revealing a diverse and intricate tapestry of maternal experiences. In an era of political instability, economic hardship, and global crises, the act of mothering -whether biological, chosen, or communal – has never been more critical or radical. This exhibition invites audiences to see caregiving as an act of resilience, love as a form of labour, and mothering as a political force that shapes and sustains societies. From the physical and emotional labour of care to the ways in which political and social upheaval redefine maternal roles, these artworks reveal motherhood as both a site of strength and a battleground of expectation. In South Africa, historical and contemporary forces – including colonial legacies, the HIV crisis, and persistent gender inequality – have reshaped motherhood beyond traditional family structures. By showcasing a wide range of artistic interpretations, the exhibition becomes a space for reflection, dialogue and resistance. In the 21st century, as notions of identity, gender, biology and family continue to evolve, Motherhood: Paradox and Duality offers a critical lens through which to examine motherhood – not as a fixed ideal, but as a fluid, dynamic and deeply human experience.
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Theme Park,
At Their Feet...
Lemkus Gallery
Lemkus Gallery showcases two dynamic shows, one born from their residency programme with a solo exhibition of recent resident Oupa Sibeko, Theme Park, and the other, a group exhibition curated by HEAT co-curator Voni Baloyi, entitled At Their Feet. Lemkus will also be holding their first Open Studio Event, with artists like Mongezi Ncaphayi, Mhlonishwa Zulu , and Russel Abrahams opening up their spaces to allow audiences to access the entire process of how artists move from ideation and conception to eventual production and exhibition. Theme Park, a solo exhibition by Oupa Sibeko featuring works produced in residence alongside previous works and remnants of past performances. Sibeko is an esteemed performance artist from Johannesburg, whose career has been shaped by his consistent participation in local and international residencies/fellowships. A consistent feature of Sibeko’s work is his insistence on play as a mode of creative production. What happens when play enters the confines of the gallery? Certain installations actively call for engagement, welcoming touch, repositioning, and reconciliation. In this way, Theme Park makes the viewer complicit in the play of artistry and the game of life and asks them to (re)consider the logic that dictates our being in the world. The group exhibition showing on the 5th floor of Lemkus Gallery, At their Feet, breaks down the silos of artistic production by pairing artist’s and asking them to instill practices of care by being in service to their fellow colleagues. Each artist has produced an artwork that grapples with themes personal to their identity, worldview, lived experience, or what they find themselves contending with at this particular moment in their practice. Participating artists include Hanna Noor Mohamed, Khanyi Mawhayi, Zenaéca Singh, Sitaara Stodel, Keabetswe Seema, Mercy Thokozane Minah, Talia Ramkilawan, and Rebaone Finger.
Baboonish
Nel on Long
A solo exhibition by Hannelie Coetzee, Baboonish hyenas not monkeying around, will be showcased at Nel Gallery. Coetzee has produced a new body of baboonish-hyena works during a residency in the Himalayas, India in April/May 2025 for this solo exhibition. The other nature of the 'developing' world will be investigated in this proffered series of drawings and new ceramic sculptural works. Lenore Manderson writes on Coetzee’s Eco Queer Seriens, “The themes of this exhibition embrace climate change, globalisation, the continued shadows of imperialism and exploitation, queer lives and queering order. These ought to be both appropriate subject matter for an artist, and taken-for-granted interests for us all. This is now at risk. The political changes taking place will affect us all through the webs of globalisation and the power of a few. These changes, cultural, political and economic, make these themes, and so this exhibition, brave and troubling. In a world that has suddenly become frightening, it is brave again to speak, paint and draw about inequality, exploitation, climate change, and queerness, even in the most metaphoric register.” Coetzee’s practice at large, both her commissioned and self-initiated projects, aim to create co-learning and co-problem-solving opportunities with a site responsive approach. Collaborations and partnerships in the past included: environmental and social scientists, the natural world cultural workers, hydro engineers, technologists, city management, national parks, businesses, humans and non-humans.
They Came And Left Footprints
Norval Foundation
Norval Foundation is proud to announce the return of a significant exhibition, THEY CAME AND LEFT FOOTPRINTS, featuring the evocative works of South African artists Lucas Sithole and Cyprian Shilakoe. Drawing from the Homestead and Bruce Campbell Smith Revisions Collections, the exhibition reflects on memory, ancestry, and the legacy of artists whose work remains powerfully relevant. Sithole and Shilakoe’s sculptures and prints speak to themes of loss, resilience, and spiritual connection during the Apartheid era—presented together in this curatorial pairing for the first time.
Frequencies of the Otherwise
RESERVOIR
Chuma Adam | Bella Knemeyer | Gareth Nyandoro | Thato Makoba | Yonela Makoba | Mia Thom | Marsi van de Heuvel | Morné Visagie What does it mean to listen to a mark? To sense a drawing not only through the eye, but through the body, through breath, through memory? This exhibition brings together seven artists whose works are dense, quiet, and deliberate – not always legible, but deeply resonant. They engage drawing not merely as a technique, but as a way of being with the world: a practice of return and repair, while foregrounding the ethics of opacity and resistance. Taking inspiration from Tina M. Campt’s concept of “listening to images”, the exhibition considers how marks - on paper, in space, across skin or history - might carry the frequencies of lives lived otherwise. Campt invites us to listen for the whispered, the withheld. Likewise, these artists trace what has been silenced or fractured - not to resolve it, but to hold space for its presence. Drawing becomes, in their hands, an act of ritual. Through layered mark-making, repetition, and speculative mapping, they offer paper not as passive support, but as active witness – to intimacy, erasure, migration, grief, and endurance. From Yonela Makoba’s pulp-dyed tapestries of feminised ritual, to Thato Makatu’s cardboard kitchen as a cartography of domestic memory; from Bella Knemeyer’s ghosted rubblescapes and urban detritus to Morné Visagie’s wave-like accumulations of graphite, echoing queerness, loss, and the sea - each work moves like a frequency, sometimes low and rumbling, sometimes soft and tactile. Gareth Nyandoro’s incised surfaces vibrate with masculine precarity and movement - the invisible lines of migrancy, gig work, and risk - while Chuma Adam’s abstractions shimmer with refusal: the refusal to be known too easily, to be captured or decoded. Mia Thom's Listening Drawing series, each made up of 7 hours in layers of listening, respond to ambient sounds as a practice of direct attention; Marsi van de Heuvel’s oil-on-linen works, meanwhile, move through pigment and erasure, where fading becomes a gesture of belonging; a quiet meditation on place, inheritance, and the complexity of return. Here, drawing becomes a means of making memory tactile. A way of marking out experimental terrain. A map made of spoor, of rumour, of lineage. The surface holds what cannot be said - a repeated refrain, a kitchen conversation, a silted echo of rubble, a line returning to itself. “To attend to the quiet is to attune oneself to frequencies of the otherwise.” – Listening to Images
A Glimpse between Memoirs
Sisonke
A Glimpse between Memoirs, a group exhibition featuring artists Shaunez Benting (an example of his work above) and Whaleed Ahjum, serves as a rich exploration of heritage, nostalgia, and cultural identity within the context of Cape Malay culture, all while engaging with the concept of speculation. By revisiting their childhood memories, the artists not only provide insights into their personal and collective histories but also challenge audiences to consider how these narratives can shape their visions for the future. This interplay highlights the impact of Apartheid on their communities and invites speculation about how the past informs current realities and future possibilities. Key themes of the exhibition further intertwine with the idea of speculation, particularly the significance of nostalgia as a tool for understanding identity and resisting dominant narratives. The artists emphasize self-authorship, encouraging communities to reclaim their stories and challenge historical misrepresentation. Benting's focus on marginalised spaces from his youth and Ahjum's investigation of his South East Asian roots intersect with Cape Malay heritage, prompting viewers to consider how these explorations can open up alternative histories and futures. Overall, the exhibition underscores the resilience of cultural identities and the richness of shared experiences, while also inviting speculation on how honouring ancestral legacies through artistic expression can disrupt societal norms. In this way, the exhibition not only celebrates cultural vibrancy despite oppression but also positions itself as a vital conversation about the potential for art to envision and shape the future.
Johann Louw at Sixty & Baba Tjeko
Smac Gallery
Johann Louw’s extensive body of work, rooted in an evocative engagement with the human condition, aligns seamlessly with the speculative themes of Other Worlding. His paintings and drawings, often oscillating between figuration and abstraction, explore psychological and existential narratives that blur the boundaries between past and present, memory and reality. His practice offers a compelling lens through which to examine speculative artistic methodologies and the creation of alternate narratives that resist historical determinism. Louw’s work engages with the speculative through an exploration of human presence, transformation, and erasure. His compositions, frequently imbued with a sense of isolation and temporal ambiguity, suggest worlds that are neither entirely of the past nor fully of the present. His paintings often depict figures and landscapes in various states of fragmentation and dissolution, invoking an alternative gaze—one that interrogates rather than affirms established histories. This resonates with Other Worlding’s exploration of speculation as a method of reimagining futures while being acutely aware of historical weight. Louw’s engagement with the body as a contested space echoes the curatorial premise of using speculation to challenge dominant narratives, to reclaim meaning beyond commodification, and to foster emancipatory possibilities within contemporary art. The speculative in Louw’s work is not an exercise in utopian escapism but an interrogation of the liminal space between what is known and what is possible. His works evoke a psychological landscape that resists easy classification, mirroring Other Worlding’s call for art that disrupts conventional perspectives. The use of muted palettes, raw textures, and atmospheric compositions reflect an artistic approach that does not merely depict but instead unsettles, prompting viewers to consider the unseen forces that shape both personal and collective histories.
Echoes of Elsewhere: Fragments of the Past, Visions of Tomorrow
HUB Gallery (Spier Arts Trust)
Echoes of Elsewhere: Fragments of the Past, Visions of Tomorrow is an exhibition that invites viewers into a realm where history, memory, and imagination converge to create speculative worlds. Through the works of contemporary artists from the Spier Arts Trust collection, this exhibition explores the concept of "Other Worlding"—a creative practice that reconfigures the past, interrogates the present, and envisions futures free from the confines of mainstream narratives. Each artist engages with themes of transformation, challenging conventional perspectives and inviting viewers to consider new possibilities beyond the boundaries of reality and imagination.At the heart of this exhibition lies the power of speculation as a tool for liberation. The artists engage with "what if" questions to dismantle historical trauma while challenging rigid cultural frameworks. Their works serve as acts of reclamation, where personal and collective memories transmute into visions of alternative realities. The exhibition highlights the fragility and resilience of human life in an era of rapid digital intervention. Each artist interrogates the interplay between technology and identity, questioning how virtual spaces reshape our understanding of self and community. In a world constantly changing at a rapid velocity, Echoes of Elsewhere offers a pause—a space to reflect on the stories we inherit, the identities we perform, and the futures we dare to dream. Echoes of Elsewhere is not merely an exhibition to be observed but an experience to be inhabited. It encourages viewers to sit with the discomfort of the unknown, and to imagine worlds where liberation is a tangible possibility. By merging the speculative with the tangible, the artists remind us that the future is not predetermined—it is a collective project, waiting to be shaped. The exhibition ultimately asks not just 'what if?' but 'what now?'—compelling us to recognize ourselves as co-authors of unfolding stories. Participating artists include, Nathaniel Sheppard, Christo Booth, Effo Munguanzo, Minenkulu Ngoyi, Lionel Mbayiwa, Mbuso Hlongwa, Dorothy Barnes, Sello Letswalo, Colijn Strydom, Khulekani Mkhize, Ziyanda Majozi, Asanda Kupa, Zolani Siphungela; Patrick Bongoy, Boyce Magandela, Simon Venter, Timothy Zantsi, Melaney Roberts (work above) Lizette Chirrime.
Proximate Worlds
Untitled Art
‘Proximate Worlds’ navigates the porous boundaries where certainty dissolves into possibility. Drawing on ideas of interconnectedness, intimacy and nearness, the exhibition proposes spaces and futures that exist beyond our immediate grasp — worlds that are not wholly separate from our own, but adjacent to it, close enough to touch. These worlds are informed by memories and lived experience, alongside ancient histories that preceded them. Eight artists — Dineo Ponde, Cathy Abraham, Ulriche Jantjes (example above), Nazeer Jappie, Kay-Leigh Fisher, Selwyn Steyn, Zenaéca Singh and Sophia van Wyk (her work, Different Dimensions of Love pictured above) - were invited to respond to the provocation of the speculative and ‘other worlding’, where ‘other worlding’ is thought of as a practice of imagining and inhabiting alternative realities. Through fictive, ritual-based and rigorous conceptual framing, each artist explores the permeable borders between the tangible and the speculative. The presentation, spanning over two exhibition spaces, is an invitation to reconsider perceptions and assumptions that are often unquestioned while teasing out new ways of imagining our relationships with cultural, ecological and socio-political spheres. Through different approaches, brought together through painting, drawing and sculpture, the artists in ‘Proximate Worlds’ invite us to explore the spaces between what we know and what we can imagine.
Technology as Palette: Imagination to Image
WORLDART
WORLDART’s exhibition, titled Technology as Palette: Imagination to Image, will explore various forms of modern technology and its contribution to helping artists realize their vision. From computer programmes for digital art and artificial intelligence in photography to machines altering images and hologram technology –these will all be on show at WORLDART during the HEAT Winter Arts Festival this year. Artists on show will include Gavin Goodman, Gavin Rain, Dale Yudelman, Ivan Smith, Ruan Jooste (his work depicted abo ve), Thekiso Mokhele, Andrew Whitehouse, Sulette van der Merwe and Adilson de Oliveira. This group exhibition will be a conversation about the fusion of creativity and innovation. It will emphasise how technology becomes a tool to expand the boundaries of artistic expression. With its second edition taking place this year from August 6 to 16 at over 16 galleries and live venues throughout the City Centre, it will feature an exciting programme filled with visual art, theatre, music, opera, comedy, talks and walkabouts.Art gallery WORLDART’s Charl Bezuidenhout shares that, “this is exactly why the Cape Town art scene is thriving,” he says. “In Cape Town we no longer wait for summer until we wake up. With initiatives like this, locals and visitors will have the opportunity to experience well curated, quality exhibitions and events at a time when indoor events make more sense.”