Exhibitions

NOW SHOWING

Planetary Cognitive Ecologies: Gondwana
By Henrietta Scholtz

What survives when a world ends, and what can still be discovered about it? This multimedia exhibition brings art, science and technology into conversation. At the heart of the exhibition is a novel hybrid protein design, developed through computational biology and brought to life in as a data-driven animated reconstruction. Each visitor’s presence generates a unique version of the protein, which then joins an ever-growing forest of ghost data.

Through deposition paintings made using coal, ochre and bio-based inks, the fossilised remains of Glossopteris - an ancient plant that went extinct around 250 million years ago which manifests as coal still used today – is represented, prompting awareness of its presence across different continents and evidence of the Gondwana landmass.

The works together connect extinction, transformation and survival across molecular and planetary scales. Visitors can expect an immersive encounter with virtual reality, animated 3D reconstruction, scientific processes and material experimentation.

Experience a body of work that asks us to consider what remains after disruption, what can be reconstructed and where new possibilities may still take root.

Henrietta Scholtz is a UJ Artist-in-Residence. This exhibition is a research outcome of her UJ Arts & Culture residency in association with the UJ Art Gallery.

The exhibition also forms part of the 2026 Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival.
Exhibition runs until: 14 November 2026

Doors of Learning: Microcosms of a Future South Africa

This exhibition explores two radical experiments in education, communal living, architecture and international solidarity by the South African liberation movement in exile: the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College and the Dakawa Development Centre in Tanzania. Through architecture, design and personal histories, the exhibition examines how space became integral to imagining and building a democratic future.

Brought to you by The 91��Ƭ�� History Workshop in partnership with Bauhaus Dessau and with the support of Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

On until 27 November 2026.

We The People

Freedom. Dignity. Equality.

Inspired by Thabo Mbeki’s landmark speech “I Am an African” WE THE PEOPLE uses archival evidence to show the African ideas that inspired our democracy. African intellectuals, academics, journalists and leaders were already conceiving a constitution in the 19^th century. By 1923 the ANC already had a Bill of Rights. Through decades of debate, broad consultation, courageous imagination and strategic thinking multiple sources of inspiration were integrated into what became the South African Constitution and its Bill of Rights. It is hoped that by uncovering this story of persistent struggle and resilience, the generations who have inherited its benefits and promises are inspired to continue developing the unfinished project of our democracy in that same spirit today.

WE THE PEOPLE brings the story of the Constitution into the room as a living and ongoing collaboration. Visitors encounter “I Am an African” as poetry, a political vision and an invitation to discover how generations of thinkers, activists, communities and citizens helped shape the values at the heart of our democracy: dignity, freedom and equality.

The creators involved in it

Thabo Mbeki Foundation

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation creates platforms for dialogue, scholarship and public engagement around Africa’s political, intellectual and developmental future. In WE THE PEOPLE, the Foundation helps connect the ideas of African Renaissance, constitutional democracy and active citizenship, allowing the spirit and challenge of “I Am an African” to speak powerfully to a new generation.

Totem Media

Totem Media is the exhibition’s creative and interpretive partner, weaving together research, storytelling, design, art and visitor experience. Its role is to transform a complex constitutional history into an experience that is accessible, layered and emotionally alive - a space where historic voices meet contemporary questions and where visitors become participants in the story.

Curator Lisa Younger and the commissioned artists

Working with curator Lisa Younger, commissioned artists Ntokozo Mudau Dumisani Jere and Ogorogile Nong bring fresh creative voices into conversation with the Constitution, “I Am an African” and the histories explored throughout the exhibition. Their works do more than illustrate the past: they interpret it, challenge it and open new questions. Through their different practices, they invite visitors to ask what dignity, freedom, equality and belonging mean now - and what these values demand of us today. Together, the curatorial and artistic programme keeps WE THE PEOPLE alive as a conversation between history, art and the public.

On until 30 September 2026

Contact details:

Sam Horowitz

Tel: + 27 (72) 581 0624
E-mail: sam@totem-media.net

Amanda Xulu

Tel: +27 (61) 508 7056
E-mail: amanda@totem-media.net

Permanent Exhibitions

The interactive exhibits at Origins Centre take visitors on an extraordinary journey of discovery, which begins with the origins of humankind in Africa and then moves through the development of technology, art, culture, and symbolism. The journey continues with an exploration of the diverse Southern African rock art traditions. These ancient masterworks, and the artists, are illustrated through contemporary art installations by well-known South African artists.

Our permanent exhibitions:

Indigenous Gardens - edible and medicinal plants from different biomes that were used in the past and currently by ritual specialists throughout southern Africa.
African Origins - Early African stone tools from 2.6 million years ago; the origins of humanity in Africa and what makes us human; The sands of time across the world; replica hominin skulls showing our human evolution over the last 7 million years
The San and Rock Art - San and their Hunter-Gatherer past; San genocide and Sara Baartman; The eland in San belief; San painting technologies; The trance dance and how San ritual specialists enter the spirit world; rain making and neuropsychology; Interpreting a rock art panel.
Rock Engraving Archive - Varied engraved rock art traditions & styles in Southern Africa. Can be explored through augmented reality (Download the app on Android or IOS – originscentrear)
Conservation - Conservation problems facing rock art sites today and site etiquette
Tapestry Room - Understanding and interpreting San Art; The history of the San told through 11 embroidered panels; The ‘White Lady of the Brandberg’
Khoe Art - The geometric art found in southern Africa; Who are the Khoekhoen?
Early (Iron Age) Farmers - The rise of complex societies, including information on Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe; Protest art of the Makgabeng
Installations by contemporary artists - One Being by Deborah Glencross; World Map by Walter Oltman; Axis Mundi by Russel Scott; Synanthrope by Hannelie Coetzee; Signs of people by Willem Boshoff; Threads of knowing by Tamar Mason; Double Vision by Pippa Scotness & Malcolm Payne; Glass Beads by Martli Jansen van Rensburg.

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