Zeitz MOCAA

Zeitz MOCAA

Zeitz MOCAA
4.5
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
About
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public not-for-profit institution that collects, preserves, researches and exhibits contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora; conceives and hosts international exhibitions; develops supporting educational, discursive and enrichment programmes; encourages intercultural understanding; and strives towards access for all. The museum’s galleries feature rotating temporary exhibitions with a dedicated space for the permanent collection. The institution also includes the Centre for Art Education, the Centre for the Moving Image and The Atelier, a museum residency programme for artists living and working in Cape Town.
Duration: 2-3 hours
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$13.87
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles955 reviews
Excellent
594
Very good
191
Average
88
Poor
37
Terrible
45

Kalkan White
Kalkan, Türkiye11,992 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Couples
As a modern art gallery, this place is a joke, with little to no art inside & an entry fee of 250 Rand!
It is however a stunningly, beautiful building & is worth the entry fee to see inside.
The fact that the only real art you see is in the gift shop as you exit is very strange, but I am glad we visited.
Written January 7, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Venture593520
West Kirby, UK21 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Couples
My husband is an artist and sculptor and will always enjoy a gallery visit and I am happy to accompany him. What made this visit so good was the tour and talk by the in house art historian Rory.
With an encyclopaedic knowledge of the building and the art he kept the group captivated for an hour. If you visit the gallery do attend the tour.
The building is the star attraction and as an old granary seeing the roof where the old silos where is fascinating. The cafe is great food and good value.
Written January 25, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Reshmie R
Bangkok, Thailand6 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2023 • Solo
Absolutely worth the time and money. The building itself it gorgeous and the art by various African artists is impressive, uplifting and inspirational. You can easily spend a couple of hours here, taking everything in. Must see when you’re in Cape Town
Written December 17, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

krysiatennis
London, UK20 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2023 • Couples
A very disappointing experience all round. We chose to visit the museum on the last day of a month long trip in South Africa. After purchasing our ticket we were advised to start on the 6th floor and work our way down. On the 6th floor was a restaurant and toilets. Doors to the exhibitions were closed. We were advised to go down a floor. On the 5th floor there was no obvious route to follow and staff were not helpful. The art was poorly displayed and reminded us of a school exhibition rather than a world class museum. Other floors were no better. Indeed yet another floor was undergoing refurbishment and although we had access there was debris all over the floor, ladders and litter everywhere. At one point we were directed through a staff canteen area and storage area. All exhibitions were poorly curated and badly labelled and signposted. Staff although polite, were there merely to guard rooms rather than direct or offer advice. This building itself is amazing, as is the location. There is such artistic talent throughout Africa but non of it was reflected here. There must be artists clamouring to exhibit in such a world class venue but clearly the curators are not up to the task. The museum shop was messy and did not reflect any of the exhibits. A large poster at the exit reflected our experience, featuring the word ‘Dismay’ in bold letters. We should have asked for a refund it really was not worth it.
Written March 25, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

WallyHolland
Voorburg, The Netherlands458 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Couples
The building is just marvelous and worth a visit for itself. The fact that it was used as a grain storage for many years and now rebuild into a museum is just wonderful.

After a good coffee on the 6th floor we joined the tour together with 15 more people. It did not take long before the first people left; maybe ‘surrendered’ is a better word. The guide used expressions that went way above our (two academic educated people) heads; way too many holistic spacial - but probably very intellectual - words. We surrendered after 15 minutes and went to see the collection on our own.

The presentation of several works was really nice and creative. But then again the explanation of several pieces of art in the guide….

Just one example of one line in the guide: “Mathison’s work presents a keen awareness of the socio-historical conditions that pervade discourses on labour, capital and class, exploring these questions through highlighting shifting power relations in the region”

Are these the kind of texts that draw people towards art? I do not believe so and thus there is our dilemma.
Written February 2, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

swisstraveller
Berne665 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Family
The building is amazing and very much worth the visit. I have witnessed the old silo buidling from despair to now the art museum and silo hotel, and I very much like how this building has been saved and brought back to glory.

I was here when the museum was opened in 2017, and I visited in 2019 when there was great art in the museum. This time however, there was no art at all, and the visit was very dissapointing. We enjoyed the building, but the non art was really bad. I dont know what happened here and I hope that it will get better very soon. Its really a disgrace to any art or museum lover.
Written October 19, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Chelsea Hotelier
County Donegal, Ireland9 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2024 • Couples
Two of us visited here on Saturday November 16th 2024. The Ticket Desk told us to take the lift to the top floor and work our way down. There was nothing going on up on the roof-space.

We found the Bernie Searle, "Other Side of Now" and much of the permanent collection quite absorbing. The curation and management of the space was - overall - quite good.

However we found the attitude of the staff at the (also interesting) "one must be seated" exhibit to be intrusive and over the top.

At one point - because the whole exhibit had very low lighting, I used the torch on my iPhone (at a very low intensity - maybe 25%) to try to read one of the small, grey description-plates near the entry to one of the rooms and - to my astonishment - one of the attendants descended on us exclaiming "no flash" repeatedly.

I patiently tried to explain that we were not trying to use-flash or photograph anything, not even pointing the phone at an exhibition item - but merely using it to try to read a couple of paragraphs from a panel that was in almost total darkness - but she chose not to even listen - still repeating "no flash" more assertively than was helpful to anyone - so to try to avoid a "scene" we left the panel unread and carried on.

The experience was repeated in the next room of the same exhibition - again, the second attendant exclaiming "no flash" - and when I made it clear to her we were using the torch merely to try to read the info panel - she changed her refrain to "no light". This time, I tried to get an explanation from her as to why a low-light, not even directed at an exhibit but at the info-panel (otherwise illegible because of the low light) she just said "take it up with front-of-house". I'm not sure what this says about the staff relations in the gallery - but I came to my own conclusions.

We would normally have taken a look around the Shop area before exiting - but we didn't feel like interacting any further with the staff, or indeed seeking out "front of house" at this point, as it was nearing closing-time

During our stay in Cape Town and the Cape Area, we were otherwise delighted by the warmth and friendliness of everyone we met; this was an unfortunate exception.
Written November 24, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Charles Francis
Washington DC, DC3 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Family
The exhibits in this place are the most pretentious, obscure and almost creepy video "art" one can imagine. Walk into these dark rooms with weird psycho-sound and nightmare images that are supposed to be about important matters. It is gibberish.
Written March 22, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

CanadianTraveler1948
Toronto, Canada13 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
I've visited twice now, on two separate trips to Cape Town. This is a must-see to get a taste of contemporary African art, though the collection is small and too much contemporary art just doesn't do it for me! Still, it is a reasonable survey of what's being created across the southern half of the continent if the special exhibitions are worthy.

I don't think I'd have gone a second time were it not for the Kentridge show, a retrospective of the work of the country's preeminent white artist, now increasingly being seen outside the country. Worth it if you are familiar with his work, and particularly his environmental parade rooms.

Like too many contemporary art museums I've visited (and I've visited most of them on my travels around the planet), the building tends to overwhelm the art. In this case, it's the conversion of an old flour mill into exhibition spaces.

The restaurant on top now has its liquor license but be forewarned you must reserve at table in advance. However, the rather snooty hostess didn't bother to tell us this when we first checked it out upon our arrival around 11a to enquire if it was now licensed (which it wasn't a year ago when the museum first opened). We returned after touring the museum around 1p and only then were asked if we had as reservation and told we couldn't get in. Not very welcoming!
Written March 5, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Canadian Traveler, thank you for your feedback and for visiting the museum on both of your trips. We take the experience of all our guests seriously and have picked this up internally. We’d like to apologise for any behaviour that might have felt disrespectful. We hope that you’re able to return to the museum in future for a better experience. Warm wishes, The Zeitz MOCAA Team.
Written March 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Jamy_Dodger
East Anglia, UK107 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2023
Well worth a visit if you're in the area. The stunning architecture of the former silo building is fascinating to walk around and is a perfect back drop for the art on show. Great display of South African art over several floors of the building. You'll need strong nerves on the top floor, where you can walk directly on glass plates that line the tops of the old silo containers and you can see the ground several floor beneath your feet!
Written April 17, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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