Norman Catherine, Joyride, 2016, Bronze, 155 x 250 x 125 cm, Homestead Collection

 

The Norval Foundation, which is located in Cape Town’s Tokai neighbourhood, is a tribute to the diverse range of modern and contemporary art produced throughout Africa and its diaspora. This prestigious art museum, which features galleries and a constantly changing exhibition schedule, acts as a dynamic hub for presenting a wide range of artworks, including media art, painting, and photography. Visitors can engage with the massive outdoor sculptures in the permanent collection in an enchanting environment which is nestled among the flora and animals of the natural wetland.

Three-dimensional installations by South African and African artists can be seen in the Sculpture Garden at Norval Foundation. The property is unique in that it has local vegetation and is flanked by the stunning Constantia Berg mountains and a protected Cape freshwater wetland. The arrangement of the artwork considers the location, utilising the garden’s contours to conceal and reveal pieces and giving the visitor a sense of exploration.

Norval Foundation offers a self-guided audio tour of the Sculpture Garden with VoiceMap. This walking tour leads you past thirteen powerful artworks by artists from across Africa, including the only large-scale Yinka Shonibare CBE sculpture, Wind Sculpture SG (III), 2018, on the continent.

During the audio tour, you’ll meet a man over six metres tall balancing on his head which the artist calls an ‘anti-monument’. You’ll bump into a radically oversized film camera and a seven-metre tall handkerchief with a vibrant Dutch wax print, frozen in the wind.

The garden features a kids’ play area, a multitude of native plant species, and plenty of room for lounging and admiring the lovely surroundings. There are also various critters that live among the plants. Keep a look out for the endangered western leopard toad. By building concrete culverts to ensure their safe transit from Steenberg Road to the marsh during mating season, Norval Foundation have gone to considerable measures to safeguard this roaming inhabitant.

This tour of the Sculpture Garden at Norval Foundation will inspire a newfound appreciation for both art and nature, regardless of whether you are an art enthusiast or an inquisitive first-time visitor to the museum. To fully enjoy the tour, allow yourself at least one hour.

Inspired by its natural setting, its mission is to make modern and contemporary art and ideas widely accessible to a range of audiences. This is achieved through the care of art, interpretation and presentation of exhibitions, publications, special events, concerts, educational initiatives and an artists-in-residence programme. There are four exhibitions on show at Norval Foundation, by artists such as Alexis Preller, Walter Oltmann, Cinga Samson, and lastly, a group exhibition, The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize, which is an annual award that celebrates the practices of leading contemporary artists from Africa and its diaspora.

Brett Murray, Again Again, 2015, Bronze, 250 x 180 x 260 cm, Homestead Collection.

Located in the Foundation’s atrium, guests encounter Metamorphosis, an exhibition dedicated to the sculptural works of Johannesburg based artist Walter Oltmann. Oltmann’s sculptures seem to transcend the terrestrial and evoke a cosmic and eternal quality that defies the ephemeral nature of both insect and human existence. Within this intersection, Oltmann’s work contemplates the passage of time, weaving the impermanent into immortality.

By providing opportunities for deep engagement with visual art and offering a beautiful space for contemplation, exploration, and learning, the Norval Foundation remains dedicated to enriching lives, inspiring creativity, and fostering appreciation for the multifaceted world of African art.

Speelman Mahlangu, Riding the Bull I, 2004, Bronze, 182 x 143 x 72 cm, Homestead Collection.

 

 

ABOVE: William Kentridge, World on its Hind Legs, 2010, Steel and paint, 432 x 312 x 495 cm, Homestead Collection. | BELOW: Edoardo Villa, Africa, 1959-60, Steel and enamel paint, 670 x 220 x 260 cm, Courtesy of Exxaro Resources Ltd.

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