Opening the Door | Episode 3: How To Curate, Produce and Exhibit Art in South Africa Today

For the third instalment of our Winter Workshop series, we have an exciting twist. We are privileged and grateful for the opportunity to unpack “How To Curate, Produce and Exhibit Art in South Africa Today” from the perspective of one curator and one exhibition designer on their home turf, Zeitz MOCAA. Here, we will have the rare chance to speak with two people who actually work together, regularly build exhibitions in one of the most reputable museums on the continent, and we are being given a front row seat to witness how that collaboration functions in practice.

Curation is often mistaken for the act of simply selecting and arranging objects in an exhibition. In practice, curation is a relational balancing act, where the curator is part negotiator, part enforcer, responsible for prioritising and communicating the artwork's integrity against budget, deadlines, and competing interests. Exhibition design branches out from curation and operates as its own (often underrepresented) discipline. If curation is responsible for what the exhibition says and why the exhibition is relevant to its audience, the exhibition design decides how the body moves through the space and encounters that argument. 

To keep things practical, the session will run in two parts. The panel discussion covers the thinking. Then, instead of a seated Q&A, our speakers will walk us through one of the museum's exhibitions — breaking it down through the technical and curatorial decisions behind it. You'll still get to ask questions and push back in real time; the difference is you're doing it in front of a live case study, instead of a slideshow.

Thematically, the session will cover:

• A foundational introduction to curation and exhibition design — what each actually involves, and why the distinction matters.

• How the two roles collaborate day to day — where the curator and designer agree, where they clash, and how those tensions get resolved.

• The core considerations exhibition designers use to guide their process.

• How to develop and articulate a curatorial framework.

• The practical realities of producing exhibitions in South Africa — working with limited resources, and insights into alternative infrastructures that fill the gap.

• How exhibitions get documented and archived, and why that afterlife matters as interest in archival practice grows

• Insights on how to build a curatorial and exhibition design portfolio, as well as how to position yourself in the ecosystem.

Whether you're new to the field or years into it, you'll leave with a working grasp of two roles that shape every exhibition you'll ever see and some considerations you can put into practice on your very next project.

Opening the Door | A Workshop Series To Share Access and Insight

This series responds to a persistent gap: access to the inner workings of the art world. For many emerging practitioners, the industry remains opaque, largely defined by unspoken rules, informal networks and great uncertainty around how or where to begin.

‘Opening the Door’ is a 6-part series structured to address this directly. Each session brings participants into close conversation with established professionals across the local and Pan-African art ecosystem . The intention is not to generalise or simplify, but to offer specific, experience-based insight into how artists can better position themselves in order to create a successful and sustainable career in the arts.

The full programme draws on five years of research conducted by Art School Africa, identifying the primary barriers faced by emerging art practitioners from Africa. These sessions translate those findings into practical, open dialogue where questions can be asked directly and answers given on the spot.