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Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car #20 heads to Zeitz MOCAA exhibition
The Cape Town program grew from five intercontinental workshops that expanded the Art Car commission into a broader exchange around Pan-African cinema.
Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car #20 will be displayed in Zeitz MOCAA’s Atrium Bowl throughout Turning Towards the Sun, scheduled in Cape Town from Dec. 11, 2026, through Aug. 15, 2027. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, the African Film and Media Arts Collective and BMW are presenting the exhibition on Level 4 of the museum.
Participants include Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu and Kenyan multidisciplinary artist Jim Chuchu; Ethiopian director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari; French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop; African-American poet Robin Coste Lewis; and the British interdisciplinary artist collective The Otolith Group. Their work explores moving-image and collective-learning practices across African and diasporic contexts.
How the Art Car became a wider project
Mehretu’s nomination as the artist for BMW Art Car #20 was the catalyst for the broader project and exhibition. Working with filmmaker Mehret Mandefro and Koyo Kouoh, the late executive director and chief curator of Zeitz MOCAA, she pursued that project through AFMAC and five intercontinental workshops. Artists led sessions in Lagos, Tangier, Nairobi, Dakar and Cape Town.
Zeitz MOCAA Assistant Curator Khanyi Mawhayi is curating the exhibition. Dr Phokeng Setai and Dr Greer Valley are supporting the curation, while Angela Muritu, Inshaaf Jamodien, Evyn Banawoye and Reem Aljeally are assisting. The exhibition is part of the AFMAC project and is presented in partnership with BMW. The Mellon Foundation and BMW South Africa support Zeitz MOCAA’s broader curatorial and exhibition programming.
