Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is bringing Johannesburg-based artist Nolan Oswald Dennis’ work to FNB Art Joburg this September, presenting A: Black Consciousness of Spacetime as part of the 2026 edition of the fair.
Running from 3 to 6 September, the presentation revisits UNDERSTUDIES (2024–2025), Dennis’ first major South African museum solo exhibition, while introducing audiences to new ways of thinking about space, knowledge and collaboration.
Rethinking space through art
At the centre of Dennis’ practice is an interest in how space is understood and produced through geological, ecological, political, social and metaphysical systems.
A: Black Consciousness of Spacetime builds on the ideas explored through UNDERSTUDIES, treating space not as something fixed, but as a field that is constantly being shaped and transformed by the relationships between people, places, materials and knowledge.
For Zeitz MOCAA, bringing this work to Johannesburg also forms part of a broader effort to extend the museum’s reach beyond its Cape Town home and engage audiences across the country.
Collaboration as a way of making knowledge
Two works will take centre stage at the museum’s FNB Art Joburg booth: Xenolith (Letsema) (2024) and Soft Rock (leNqaba yoMkhosi) (2024).
Xenolith (Letsema) takes its subtitle from the Setswana word for voluntarily working together. The work developed through collaboration between Dennis and members of Zeitz MOCAA’s staff, challenging conventional ideas around authorship and the hierarchies through which cultural knowledge and objects are produced.
The resulting installation includes seven layered maquettes made from pigmented soil, presented alongside recipe books and a poem by Talia Mzamane from the museum’s Collections department.
Soft Rock (leNqaba yoMkhosi), created in collaboration with artist and writer Vusumzi Nkomo, similarly considers the relationship between geological material and the social processes surrounding it.
Together, the works question fixed ideas about land, matter and knowledge, instead presenting them as things that are continually changing through interaction.
A new monograph enters the conversation
The FNB Art Joburg presentation will also mark the launch of ECLIPTICS, the first monograph dedicated to Dennis’ practice.
Published by Zeitz MOCAA in collaboration with Swiss Institute New York and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, the publication expands the conversation around the artist’s work and provides a deeper record of his ongoing engagement with space, time, politics and knowledge-making.
The book adds another layer to the presentation, positioning the fair not only as a place to encounter Dennis’ work, but also as an opportunity to engage with the ideas and research informing his practice.
Zeitz MOCAA expands its Johannesburg programme
The museum’s presence at FNB Art Joburg will form part of a wider programme of conversations and gatherings taking place in Johannesburg.
One conversation, hosted in partnership with NIROX, will examine the place of Ubuntu in law, art and politics, bringing together Justice Albie Sachs, Dr Phokeng Setai, Khanyisile Mawhayi, Ithateng Mokgoro of the Yvonne Mokgoro Foundation and Sven Christian of NIROX.
At FNB Art Joburg, another conversation will focus on collective work and knowledge-making through the development of Xenolith (Letsema), featuring members of Zeitz MOCAA’s team and Dennis’ studio.
The museum will also host a gathering for members of Johannesburg’s creative, cultural and business communities during the fair.
With its presentation of A: Black Consciousness of Spacetime, Zeitz MOCAA is using FNB Art Joburg as more than an exhibition platform. It becomes an opportunity to bring its institutional network, artists and audiences into conversation while continuing to ask how knowledge is produced, shared and carried forward.
