South Africa?s newest and most widely-anticipated art museum has finally opened its doors to the public. Dornob previously reported on the opening of the “Silo Hotel,” which occupies part of the same complex on Cape Town?s V&A waterfront. The museum in question is the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), and it’s located in a former grain silo that overlooks the South African city?s docklands area. It will house the world?s largest collection of contemporary African art and will also take its place as South Africa?s biggest art museum, both factors setting the stage for the Zeitz MOCAA to become one of the most important institutions for African art of all time. The 1920s building was recently transformed by the visionary British design studio Heatherwick Studio, fronted by design pioneer Thomas Heatherwick.
The impressive, bulbous glazed facades of the Silo Hotel occupy the former grain silo’s top floor, below which the museum sits. The original building was formed of 42 tightly-compacted cylindrical silos, and the new museum is spread out over 9,500 square meters, including 6,000 square meters of exhibition space over nine floors and 80 interwoven galleries, a rooftop sculpture garden, a bookshop, art storage facilities, restaurants, and reading rooms. Aside from the exhibition spaces and ancillary facilities, Zeizt MOCAA also provides Cape Town with a costume institute and centers for photography, moving images, performance ...