V&A Waterfront
Cape Town Western Cape 8000
South Africa
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is delighted to announce that internationally respected museum leader and curator Elvira Dyangani Ose will join the Museum as its Artistic Director, effective from October 1, 2026.
Dyangani Ose’s career spans leading institutions across Europe, Africa, and the United States. She has served as Director of Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and The Showroom London and previously held curatorial roles at Tate Modern in London and Creative Time in New York. She is currently the Artistic Director of the second Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial (2026–2027). Combining a Pan-African outlook with exceptional international experience, she is recognised for her artistic vision, institution building, collaborative leadership, and longstanding commitment to artists from Africa and its diaspora.
Zeitz MOCAA Co-founder and Co-chair, David Green OBE, commented: ‘Following an extensive local and international search, the Board is delighted to welcome Elvira Dyangani Ose to Zeitz MOCAA. Dyangani Ose’s appointment reflects who we are as an institution—one rooted in Africa, while connected to the world. She will oversee the Museum’s curatorial vision and direction, leading the institution through its next chapter as it approaches its second decade—building on the late Koyo Kouoh's legacy, and honouring her extraordinary artistic vision and the institutional foundations she built.’
Adding to this, Jochen Zeitz, Zeitz MOCAA Co-founder and Co-chair, said: ‘Dyangani Ose joins Zeitz MOCAA at a defining moment in our journey. As we approach our 10th anniversary, her appointment builds on the foundations laid in our first decade. She brings deep experience in institutional leadership and will expand the Museum's artistic ambition—across exhibitions, research, collections, public engagement, and the way we work with artists and audiences.'
Commenting on her appointment, Elvira Dyangani Ose said: “It is a privilege to join Zeitz MOCAA. I am thrilled to come on board at this moment to continue its journey as a leading African institution with global reach. I look forward to working alongside the Museum's remarkable team, artists, supporters, and the local and global communities, building upon its extraordinary foundation by fostering meaningful collaborations and artistic exchanges across cultures and geographies.”
Speaking at the Museum’s media briefing on August 12, Dyangani Ose reflected on the role of the institution within the broader cultural landscape: “Since its inception, but particularly under Koyo Kouoh’s leadership, Zeitz MOCAA has prided itself on being a publicly engaged Pan-African museum. In that respect, and from my point of view, Pan-Africanism is not a history—it is an ongoing institutional responsibility. Zeitz MOCAA is the museum best placed to carry this legacy forward, bringing its potential to completion. It will do so by building a network equal to one question: what does the continent need from its cultural institutions, and what must those institutions dare to become? Its collection, its building, its city of contradictions—all argue for it. Cape Town, as such, then, is not just a location. It is an argument, a narrative. To lead this global institution is also to accept that argument on its own terms, and to work from within it toward something the continent—and the world—have not yet seen.
On the other hand, this museum is and must continue to be a public institution. And a truly public institution—one that merits the designation—is accountable to its publics in the deepest sense. It is with this understanding—of Zeitz MOCAA as a plural public ecosystem, inside and outside its walls, and of Pan-Africanism as a living project of infinite possibility, with the institution as its most durable form—that I approach this exciting new role at the threshold that will mark the Museum’s first decade.”
Dyangani Ose's appointment signals a significant new chapter for Zeitz MOCAA as the Museum enters its 10th anniversary in 2027. Zeitz MOCAA remains dedicated to producing and presenting cutting-edge contemporary exhibitions and art historical knowledge, enhancing the careers of Africa’s most talented artists in the 21st century and beyond, strengthening its education programmes, and ensuring access for all.
