Last month the Norval Foundation, a cultural centre and world-class art museum, opened in Cape Town. The museum is dedicated to exhibiting contemporary and modern African art. With a threefold focus on art, nature conservation and education for children, the museum aims to make the art accessible to the general public.
Running from April 28 to August 20, Pulling at Threads is an exhibition that brings together artists who use techniques such as weaving, sewing, beading and collage in an innovative use of materials that suggest new approaches to making images and objects in the 21st century.
The exhibition highlights various social, political and religious meanings of the materials and techniques used by the artists, and challenges gender and cultural stereotypes that have long been associated with these crafts.
The Norval Foundation is the first art museum of its kind in Africa, and is housed in an ultra-modern building. It holds nine world-class galleries, a 107sq ft atrium in which a special commission will be displayed annually, the Skotnes restaurant and bar, a gift shop, a research library, and a sculpture garden. It also offers a children’s playground as well as a spectacular amphitheatre that can seat up to 250 people, for concerts.
Other exhibitions currently running at the museum include Re/discovery and Memory; Notes on Spectrality, Sorcery and the Spirit; and Us, Them & I. A concert programme also runs Monday through Sunday, bringing the best South African classical, jazz, rock, folk, contemporary and electronic musicians together, along with a few international touring musicians.
Prices:
Adults: R140
Under 18s: free
Free tours are available at 2pm Monday to Friday, and 11am Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Paid tours and after-hours paid tours are available on request.
