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Art invades the V&A

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The art museum that is being built in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is a “philanthropic project” that will most likely not make money. But it will help to increase visitor numbers and attract prominent tenants to the office buildings that will be built next door.

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz Mocaa), which is expected to be completed by September 2017, is being built at a cost of about R500 million in the old silos where, in the previous century, grain was stored before being exported to the rest of the world.

The total value of the development at the Waterfront, which includes residential and office buildings next to the museum, is in the region of R3 billion.

It is the largest investment in the Waterfront since it was sold in 2011 to its new owners, the property giant Growthpoint and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

The museum has been likened to, among other galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (widely known as the Met) in New York, the Tate Modern in London and the Pompidou in Paris.

Work by all of South Africa’s best-known artists will be exhibited in the Zeitz Mocaa, says Mark Coetzee, curator of the museum.

Artists such as William Kentridge, Marlene Dumas and David Brown, as well as young stars such as Nandipha Mntambo and Nicholas Hlobo are already represented as part of the museum’s permanent collection, thanks to a donation from the collection of the German businessman Jochen Zeitz.

Various other donations from around the world have also been received.

The collection will also include artworks by artists from all 54 countries in Africa, as well as work from other continents.

According to Coetzee, any city that wants to pride itself on being an international destination should have cultural facilities like a large art museum.

The number of visitors to contemporary art museums the world over has increased in the past 10 years.

“Were it not at the Waterfront, we would never have thought to do it,” says Norbert Sasse, CEO of Growthpoint.

According to Sasse, the growth in the Waterfront’s turnover is almost double the average of the rest of the company’s retail portfolio.

An artist’s impression of what the new art museum will look like – modern, spacious, and packed with art and culture

Besides its 50% stake in the Waterfront, Growthpoint also owns various other malls, office buildings and industrial properties in South Africa and Australia. According to its website, the total value of its properties amounts to R100.4 billion.

The other 50% of the Waterfront is owned by the PIC, which, among other things, manages government pension funds, and is one of the largest investment managers in Africa, according to its website. The PIC manages assets worth more than R1.8 trillion.

Sasse says the museum is being built mostly to develop the rest of the land surrounding the silos, which is about 40 000m2.

In the middle of that piece of land, in an excellent position up against the sea and the Waterfront, was “a horribly ugly building”.

Because of the heritage value of the silos, the rest of the building could not be demolished. The silos were built in 1921, and have been out of use since 2001. It consists of 42 cylinders, stands 57m high, and lies between the clock tower and the access road to the Transnet building.

“There was no way for us to develop the land while these buildings that are falling apart were standing in the middle of everything.”

New offices for investment firm Allan Gray and residential units have already been built on the adjacent land, while a new Virgin Active gym, the first Radisson Red Hotel in the country, more residential units, and offices for legal firm Werksmans and audit firm PwC will be built, with completion estimated for March 2017.

David Green, CEO of the Waterfront, says R500 million sounds like a lot of money to spend on something that might operate at a loss, but it was important to think ahead to what will attract visitors to the Waterfront in the future. The value of the property is now estimated at R14 billion.

Green says the grittiness of the silos will be preserved in the atrium, where cuttings shaped like grains were made in the silos. He hopes the atmosphere will be “like that of a cathedral”.

The art will be displayed in traditional exhibition spaces. Rooms with white walls are being appointed for this purpose.

The museum was designed by world-renowned British architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick. It’s going to consist of 80 galleries, 18 educational areas, storage facilities and a restoration centre. There will also be halls for shows and films, as well as bookshops, a restaurant and a coffee shop.

Green says one of the most important lessons he and his team are taking from the project is that it’s more important to think about what happens between buildings than within them.

“Outside the museum, there will be lawns with trees and shade where people can sit in between roaming from one district to the next.”

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