The last month of the open-air free gallery in the City of Oaks is still open, and visitors and locals have until Wednesday 30 April to experience the 2025 Stellenbosch Triennale.
BA’ZINZILE: A Rehearsal for Breathing sees various multidisciplinary art installations in and around town. The works of various emerging artists, for instance, are displayed at Oude Libertas, while more established artists’ works are up at the Rupert Museum and the Stellenbosch University Museum this year.
Chief curator Khanyisile Mbongwa invited 16 artists to work on site to create their works, which range from sound installations to sculptures.
The In The Current exhibit includes Alexandre Kyungu Mwilambwe (Democratic Republic of Congo), Aline Motta (Brazil), Aziz Hazara (Afghanistan), Lebohang Kganye (South Africa), Simphiwe Ndzube (South Africa), Torkwase Dyson (USA), Thierry Oussou (Benin) and William Miko (Zambia). The featured artists in On the Cusp include Astrid González (Colombia-Chile), Helen Zeru (Ethiopia), Kasangati Godelive Kabena (Democratic Republic of Congo), Manyaku Mashilo (SA), Nandele Muguni (Mozambique), Simphiwe Buthelezi (SA), Takunda Regis Billiat (Zimbabwe) and Tuli Mekodjo (Namibia).
Maguni’s Thin Line Between Life and Breath is a sound installation made up of recordings of breath, synthesized drones and environmental sounds on cassette tapes. Visitors are invited to explore the impermanence, presence and the ways in which sound embodies memory.
The artists work all speak to deeply personal yet universal themes such as loss, displacement and the urge to remember those who have come before.
For Mekondjo this meant looking back and honouring the women who lived, took care of children and kept their families together during the the German colonial era in Namibia (1884-1919).
Her installation “Eshina lyo ku topa topa/Typewriter” includes a shrine of dry food items, such as mahangu and eendunga, that were collected during the colonial period and housed in the Berlin Ethnological Museum for centuries. The shrine resembles a traumatised cell, reflecting the impact of colonialism on traditional food practices and cultural identity.
According to organiser Andi Norton part of the brief for the artists was to create work that could be recycled and live somewhere else.
Walking tours are available for visitors and is really the best way to experience the art. The Triennale is a collaborative effort and the brainchild of NPO Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust (SOST).
Visitors recently received an extra treat when Venice Biennale 2027 and Zeitz MOCAA Executive Director and Chief Curator Koyo Kouoh was in conversation with Pulitzer prize-winning author Dele Olojede. Kouoh spoke on the growing pains of the Zeitz MOCAA, the importance of art in Africa and the greater need for the public’s involvement with art. Her work, much like the 2025 Stellenbosch Triennale, focuses on African works.
“This continent of ours is the most creative, the richest, the most important, where everything will always go off from. Life started here and will always be here.”
Kouoh urged locals and others, even those not aware of Africa’s significance as the source of meaningful life, to engage especially with the art produced in their locale. “Your immediate locality is your most important audience, collaborators and supporters. Zeitz MOCAA can not be in Cape Town without the support of Capetonians, and that is in the greater Cape Town.”
• The Stellenbosch Triennale runs up until Wednesday 30 April at Oude Libertas, the Woodmill, Rupert Museum and Stellenbosch University Museum. Entry is free. For more information, visit the official website.
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