Cape Town, 16 July 2019 – The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) has announced two new appointments that boost its senior curatorial team. Storm Janse van Rensburg has been appointed Senior Curator and Tandazani Dhlakama has been appointed Assistant Curator.
Storm Janse van Rensburg brings over 20 years of experience as a curator of contemporary art in a South African and international context. He most recently served as head curator of exhibitions at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the USA. As an independent curator and researcher, he has also worked with and presented projects at numerous public and private institutions in Germany, the USA and South Africa, as well as edited and written for a number of exhibition catalogues and publications.
“Storm brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this role, both as a curator and an academic. I am thrilled to welcome him on board and look forward to working with him on bringing the progressive vision of this institution to life,” said Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator at Zeitz MOCAA.
On his appointment, Janse van Rensburg said: “I am beyond delighted to join the incredible team at Zeitz MOCAA. This is a homecoming in more ways than one, and I look forward to making a contribution to the building of the institution under the brilliant leadership of Koyo Kouoh”.
Janse van Rensburg will start in his role at Zeitz MOCAA on 2 September 2019 and will report directly to the Executive Director and Chief Curator.
Tandazani Dhlakama has been appointed to Assistant Curator reporting to the Senior Curator, from 1 August 2019. Dhlakama joined the museum in 2017 and has been involved in the Zeitz MOCAA Centre for Art Education as Education Manager with special focus on public programming and tertiary engagement. She recently curated Five Bhobh: Painting at the End of an Era (2018) at Zeitz MOCAA. Before joining Zeitz MOCAA, Dhlakama had been a part of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare where she held various positions over a six-year period. She has participated in various curatorial intensives in Africa and contributed to numerous publications.
“I am excited to continue to be a part of an important institution like Zeitz MOCAA and delighted that my new role will allow me to focus on curatorial work. I look forward to continuing to work closely with my inspirational colleagues; we have a great journey ahead of us,” commented Dhlakama on her appointment.
The bolstering of the curatorial team at Zeitz MOCAA comes at a pivotal time for the museum. In May 2019, Koyo Kouoh joined the institution as Executive Director and Chief Curator and has since been developing the future focus and vision for the museum.
On 25 August 2019, the institution will open the largest survey of acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge’s career to date, entitled Why Should I Hesitate: Putting Drawings to Work.
ENDS
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About Storm Janse van Rensburg:
Storm Janse van Rensburg (South African, b.1972) is a curator of contemporary art who has worked in a South African and international context for the past 25 years.
He started his career at the Market Theatre Galleries, Johannesburg (1995 – 1999) and served as curator of the Kwazulu Natal Society of the Arts in Durban (2000 – 2006). He was a founding member of the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA) and senior curator at Goodman Gallery Cape Town (2007 – 2012). He lived and worked in Berlin, Germany (2012 – 2015) as an independent curator and researcher, and has worked with and presented projects at numerous institutions in the city including Savvy Contemporary; Haus der Kulturen der Welt; the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein and Nolan Judin Gallery. During this time he also presented projects at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and the National Arts Festival in South Africa and worked closely with South African artists Abrie Fourie and Bridget Baker. He was a fellow of the Academy for Advanced African Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany (2013 – 2015) and has co-curated projects at Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth. He has edited and written for a number of exhibition catalogues and contributed to African Arts Journal, Art South Africa, Metropolis M, Canvas and Contemporary And magazines amongst others.
As head curator of exhibitions at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, U.S.A. (2015 – 2019), he was responsible for Jacob Lawrence: Lines of Influence, a group exhibition at SCAD Museum of Art celebrating the centennial of the artist’s birth in 2017. Other group exhibitions at the museum include In Passing: American Landscape Photography (2015); Built, World (2016); I See You (2018) and Frederick Douglass: Embers of Freedom (upcoming 2019) developed collectively with curatorial colleagues. He was responsible for new commissions by artists Hank Willis Thomas, Michael Joo, Robin Rhode, Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt, mentalKLINIK, Dejha Ti and Ania Catherine and Raphaël Barontini, among others. He curated numerous monographic exhibitions by established and emerging artists, which include projects by Toyin Ojih Odutola, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Azikiwe Mohammed, Lorainne O’Grady, Nicholas Hlobo, Omar Victor Diop, Paola Pivi, Yang Fudong, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Hernan Bas, Lavar Munroe, Sue Williamson and others.
He was co-curator of Chroma, an exhibition of new and site-specific works by acclaimed French-Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez at the institution and which travelled to Untitled Miami as a special project in 2017. Janse van Rensburg is also the curator of History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence, conceived and first presented by the SCAD Museum Art in 2015 and currently touring throughout the U.S.A until 2020. The exhibition opens on 1 August 2019, at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Alabama, U.S.A.
About Tandazani Dhlakama:
Zimbabwean born, Tandazani Dhlakama, is an Assistant Curator at Zeitz MOCAA. She joined the museum in 2017 and has been involved in the Zeitz MOCAA Centre for Art Education as Education Manager with special focus on public programming and tertiary engagement. She recently curated Five Bhobh: Painting at the End of an Era (2018) at Zeitz MOCAA.
Before joining Zeitz MOCAA, Dhlakama had been a part of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) in Harare where she held various roles between 2011 and 2017. Recently she held the position of Curator of Education and Public Programming. During her tenure at the NGZ, she was the conference coordinator for the 2nd International Conference on African Cultures (ICAC 2017) which took place in Harare. At the NGZ, Dhlakama was involved in curating several exhibitions including, Engaging with “the Other” (2013), Women at the Top (2014), ZimbabweIN Design (2014 and 2017), Dis(colour)ed Margins (2017) as well as several annual schools and colleges exhibitions.
In Harare, Dhlakama co-curated These Images Are Stories (2017) in collaboration with British Council Zimbabwe, Zimbo Jam and Impact Hub Islington in Harare. Dhlakama worked as a Curator at Tsoko Gallery, an independent art space in Harare, where she curated their inaugural exhibition, Beyond the Body (2016) and was involved in the establishment of the space. Dhlakama has worked as Gallery Assistant at the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery, St. Lawrence University (2008-2011) and has been involved in small projects at Microspazio Disponibile Art Gallery, Italy (2009) and Tizianos Art- Kreemart, NYC, USA (2011).
Dhlakama has participated in various curatorial intensives in Africa, including, the Independent Curators International (ICI) Curatorial Intensive in Dakar, Senegal (2016), the Zeitz MOCAA Curatorial Training Program in Cape Town, South Africa (2015) and the New Ideas, New Possibilities Curatorial Forum and Workshop in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (2013). Dhlakama has contributed essays and articles to publications such as Something We Africans Got, Africanah, The Herald Newspaper, Panorama, Jewel, Stitch and Artlife magazines.
Dhlakama was a Beit Scholar. She holds an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Leeds, UK (2015) and a BA in Fine Art and Political Science, Magna Cum Laude from St. Lawrence University, USA (2011).
About the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA):
Zeitz MOCAA is a not-for-profit contemporary art museum that collects, preserves, researches and exhibits contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora; hosts international exhibitions; develops supporting educational and enrichment programmes; encourages intercultural understanding; and guarantees access to art for all.
The museum’s galleries are dedicated to a large cutting-edge permanent collection; temporary exhibitions; and Centres for Art Education, Curatorial Training, Performative Practice, Photography, and the Moving Image.
Zeitz MOCAA was established through a partnership between the V&A Waterfront led by CEO David Green–acting on behalf of Growthpoint Properties Limited and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), represented by the Public Investment Corporation Limited (PIC)–and collector Jochen Zeitz. The building was reimagined through a design by the acclaimed London-based Heatherwick Studio.
In its first year of operation, Zeitz MOCAA welcomed over 350 000 visitors, 100 000 of whom were free admission as part of the museum’s “Access for All” initiatives.
The members of the Zeitz MOCAA Board of Advisors are David Green and Jochen Zeitz (Co-chairs), Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, Jody Allen, Jonathan Bloch, Kate Garwood, Isaac Julien, Pulane Kingston, Wangechi Mutu, Gasant Orrie, Roger Ross Williams, Albie Sachs and Anton Taljaard.