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The sculpture garden includes work by Walter Oltmann -
Inside the Magugu House Cape Town showroom -
The Foreign Familiar at Magugu House Cape Town includes work by Mary Sibande -
Interior Weather explores how colour and material can shape atmosphere and feeling within a space.
Featuring some of South Africa’s leading artists and institutions, three bold new exhibitions bring compelling contemporary voices to the walls and gardens of the Pink Lady.
PHOTOS Courtesy of Magugu House and Hayden Phipps, Courtesy of Goodman Gallery and Anthea Pokroy, Supplied
The iconic Cape Town hotel continues to champion the arts, with a trio of exhibitions unfolding across its grounds: The Foreign Familiar, Interior Weather and a sculpture showcase.
“Mount Nelson is a big part of Cape Town’s cultural story,” says the hotel’s General Manager, Patrick Fisher. “Through collaborations with institutions and artists shaping the continent’s creative landscape, we continue to open our spaces to meaningful dialogue and discovery.”
The Foreign Familiar at Magugu House Cape Town
Co-curated by Thebe Magugu and Julia Buchanan, the exhibition considers the afterlives of objects, images and systems introduced through colonial encounter.
The Foreign Familiar merges fashion with fine art. A collaborative sculpture between Magugu and Mary Sibande fuses Victorian silhouettes with Basotho-blanket textiles, while Sibande’s accompanying works on paper further explore themes of leisure, imagination and Black interiority. Meanwhile, works by Wim Botha destabilise the visual language of Western art history through fragmented sculptural forms. The exhibition extends into Magugu’s Mafeteng capsule collection, inspired by the Basotho blanket and its layered history of colonial exchange and cultural reclamation.
Interior Weather
This unique exhibition, presented in collaboration with Norval Foundation and curated by Carmen Joubert, unfolds throughout Mount Nelson’s communal spaces.
Interior Weather explores how colour and material can shape atmosphere and feeling within a space – in this case, the hotel’s corridors and lounges. Featured artists include Kate Gottgens, Dada Khanyisa, Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga and Ephraim Ngatane, to name but a few.
Sculpture Garden
In collaboration with Goodman Gallery, Mount Nelson’s historic gardens play host to a year-long outdoor sculpture exhibition featuring works by internationally celebrated artists, including Yinka Shonibare, William Kentridge, Walter Oltmann and Ghada Amer.
Designed as a walk-through experience, the exhibition invites guests to encounter sculpture through discovery and quiet reflection throughout the property.
Take the art tour
Visitors to Mount Nelson are invited to experience the works first-hand through ARTROUTE’s complimentary weekly art tour, held every Thursday at 17:00. Led by an art-and-design specialist guide, the tour explores all three exhibitions, bringing the stories behind the works to life.
Exhibition dates & times
Interior Weather and Goodman Gallery’s sculpture exhibition will remain on view until February 2027.
Presented within the permanent gallery space at Magugu House Cape Town, The Foreign Familiar forms part of a quarterly exhibition programme that places contemporary art in conversation with Thebe Magugu’s latest collections. The Foreign Familiar is on show until 27 August 2026 and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00–18:00.
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