The Zeitz MOCAA is a museum of contemporary
African art. It is also, in a way, a sculpture on its own; a reincarnation of
the old grain silo in the Cape Town harbour. The silo tubes have been carved
out to create new spaces and wonderful shapes which lend themselves to
photographic compositions. This makes it an interesting exercise for a
photographer, but so do the interactions between visitors, the art works and
the building itself. Most of the photographs can be viewed without captions, but explanations can inform. On Heritage Day
this week, the museum was open free of charge to local residents and we decided to take
advantage of the offer. There was also a special Cape Malay lunch in the museum
restaurant, so we booked for that as well
It was a bit daunting to see
the long queue when we arrived at midday, but it was moving fairly quickly. Then
a young man came up to us and said we should come with him to the head of the
queue. We suspect age and grey hair had something to do with it, but we were
grateful, although there were a few protests from younger people in the queue
The entrance to the Zeitz MOCAA
Museum
The almost sculptured ceiling
was carved out of the silos. The architect who designed this was extremely
creative with what must have been a very daunting space
We titled this the Angel of
Death - we could not see any information on this installation. Behind, on the
left, you can see people climbing the stairs. There are six floors. We took the
lift up and walked down from the top
Nice lighting from the roof
lights at the top of the stairs. Almost a smile
And, looking up, it is like a
huge mechanical metal eye
The circular lifts travel up
one of the silos. Only one was working and they are extremely slow
A view of the innovative
facetted windows of the hotel section of the building. They remind Lynne of
sails full of wind and glimmer in the sunshine
The view from the sculpture
terrace on the 5th floor, back towards Table Mountain and “our” mountain, Lions Head.
The terrace has glass floors which top the silos below, not great to walk on if
you have vertigo. They have applied a pattern to make it less daunting
The view straight down to earth
below
And that beautiful snail of a
staircase from the top
Finally, into the gallery. The
art is intensely political at the moment, and features some art from Zimbabwe
and other African countries. The exhibitions change regularly
Lots of light, white space
"Human Nature is a debut
solo exhibition that presents an extensive body of ethereal paintings created
by Ruby Swinney following her graduate show at the Michaelis School of Fine Art
in 2015". These seemed to be ethereal, spiritual or alien subjects in oil
and water on tracing paper and occupied a whole floor
Paint, paper and cardboard make
up this cape
Lots of discussions about the
paintings and their meanings
and lots of photos were taken
Is this art? Or someone sorting
out their handbag? Actually, he was taking a photo from floor level
One of the most memorable
pictures of the day, part of the exhibition by Zimbabwean artists entitled "Five
Bhobh" (the 50c taxi fare in Zim) – Painting at the End of an Era. Many familiar
faces in this Last Supper rendition
Lots of space for large
paintings to get attention
Architectural spaces enhance
the art
We laughed and enjoyed this
wryly amusing painting, but the message is clear; lots of hot air in the politics
in Zimbabwe. Apparently Zimbabwean President Mnangagwa is the crocodile
disappearing into the calabash, with the armed forces looking on. You probably
have to be from Zimbabwe to get all the inferences and references
Some confounded and puzzled; the
label told us. It is titled “Sadza”, the Shona name for mieliepap/polenta,
often sold as a take away in polystyrene boxes
Two sides of the gallery are
connected with balcony walkways
Lovely shapes in the view to
the ground floor
A suspended sculpture of a
woman, made from old bras, got attention
We stood rapt at this film of
the artist painting his face and smiling at the camera. Then he scrapes it all
off and begins again
A wall of bottle tops makes a
great statement in the small shop. We think this is where John lost the parking
ticket while handing out his business card!
A great view of the Pterodactyl
or Angel, whatever your own interpretation....
A chat about the art, or a
bored husband and a happy wife? Again make your own interpretation, it is all
art, all things being equal
This was a very striking
exhibit
From another angle
Girls chatting
A view between
Flying out of his egg shell?
Darth Vader or Munch?
Spiral. The 6 storey spiral
staircase, like a huge mechanical eye, looking up
and echoes of a cathedral
We loved this fine picture, not
taking itself seriously
Selfie time
The photo does not do enough
justice to this figure of bling
Pose please and smile now, Mum
A maker of spectacles
This entire piece is made from
flattened bottle capsules, and is quite wonderful. The work involved must have
taken months if not years. Very impressive. Nice way to recycle too
A place to meet, or wait
Time to see if our table was
ready at 2.30; we were hungry
This was the special Heritage Day menu
and the very expensive wine
list. Priced for tourists, not for locals
The restaurant is rather
industrial and plain on the inside
The service was really bad, we
had to get up and ask for a waiter to come and serve us after waiting for a
long time
The Vetkoek platter with
another dish from the normal menu on another table.
The beer choices are Castle
Lite, a beer so "lite" in flavour that it is a bit like making love in a canoe, Windhoek Lager (sold out) or Heineken at R45 a bottle
The Chicken and Prawn curry,
topped with a cucumber raita, served on rice with a roti. It had good flavour,
was medium hot and reminded us more of those we had in Durban, rather than Cape
Malay. Generous with the large prawns
John's Gourmet Boerewors roll
with a few chips was rather disappointing, not Gourmet at all. There was a relish
table but no signs saying what the sauces on it were, and he is rather
conservative with sauces if he doesn’t know what went into them
Our bill. Our friend Pamela was
with us and she had the wine by the glass
The photographs were all taken with John's "Mighty Midget" Nikon Coolpix A900 which has a very powerful 4.3-151mm zoom lens (24-840 35mm equivalent) and excellent performance
More than just a "point and shoot"
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
