Elvira Dyangani Ose Appointed Artistic Director of Zeitz MoCAA in Cape Town

Elvira Dyangani Ose has been appointed artistic director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MoCAA) in Cape Town, effective 1 October 2026. She succeeds Koyo Kouoh, who died suddenly in 2025. The announcement was made on 12 August by the museum and reported by The Art Newspaper the following day.

David Green, Zeitz MoCAA's co-founder and co-chair, announced the appointment at a press briefing. Alongside Dyangani Ose, Fawaz Mustapha was named managing director, responsible for operations, finances and corporate governance. The two posts form a joint-leadership structure. The museum also changed the job title from "chief curator" — the designation Kouoh held — to "artistic director" as part of the appointment.

Dyangani Ose comes to Cape Town from a curatorial career that spans three continents. She previously served as director of the Showroom in London and held curatorial roles at Creative Time in New York and at Tate Modern, where she contributed to the institution's first strategy for collecting art from Africa and its diaspora. She was also a curator at the Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. She is a doctoral candidate in the History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell University in New York.

Her most recent directorship, at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Macba), was cut short. The museum's governing body ruled that her new role as director of the second Abu Dhabi Public Art Biennial — opening in October — was incompatible with the Macba post. Earlier in 2026, Dyangani Ose resigned from the Venice Biennale jury over the participation of Russia and Israel, according to The Art Newspaper.

Zeitz MoCAA opened in September 2017 in a building designed by Thomas Heatherwick — a former grain silo complex on Cape Town's waterfront. Its founding collection consists of the holdings of Jochen Zeitz, the former chief executive of Puma, the sportswear brand. The museum's inaugural executive director and chief curator, Mark Coetzee, was suspended in 2019 following claims of misconduct; he died in 2022.

Kouoh, who lived from 1967 to 2025, had led the museum's curatorial vision. Her death left the artistic-director role vacant.

The museum is currently running a full exhibition season. Shows on view include "The Procession" (through 25 October 2026), "Afflict the Comfortable, Comfort the Afflicted" (through 4 October 2026), "A Protea Is Not a Flower" (through 15 November 2026), "We Proceed in the Footsteps of the Sunlight" (through 4 October 2026) and "Spring Is Rebellious: The Art & Life of Albie Sachs" (through 23 August 2026), according to the museum's website. Zeitz MoCAA has also announced its 2026–2027 exhibition season, running from 1 October 2026 to 28 March 2028 — a programme that will fall under Dyangani Ose's tenure.

For a museum that has seen leadership upheaval in its short history, the dual appointment of Dyangani Ose and Mustapha splits artistic and operational authority into two distinct roles. Dyangani Ose takes up the post in October, with the Abu Dhabi biennial opening the same month.