Crowning The Capital

Javett-UP, a revolutionary new public-private art destination at the University of Pretoria, sets out to explore and probe the question ‘What is the Art of Africa?’

- Graham Wood

Finally, the landlocked interior of South Africa has an answer to Cape Town’s Norval Foundation and Zeitz MOCAA: Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (abbreviated to Javett-UP). And it’s not in Joburg! Leaping the fence of the University of Pretoria’s Hatfield campus and forming a bridge over Lynnwood Road, the gallery and museum touch down on the university’s south campus, where it will be open to the public.

Like its Cape Town counterparts, Javett- UP occupies the middle ground between being a public art gallery and a private collection and creates a new landmark and destination for the capital city. On the one hand, it houses the collection of a retired businessman, philanthropist, and lead donor Michael Javett, and on the other, the historical Mapungubwe gold collection (often called SA’s ‘Crown Jewels’) – the iron-age artifacts discovered in Limpopo in the 1930s. Included in the offering is the Golden Rhino, one of the items that proved that complex, prosperous early African civilizations predated colonial incursions.

The development of the center has been overseen by Christopher Till, the current director of the Apartheid Museum. Till was the director of Johannesburg Art Gallery in the 1980s and Joburg’s director of culture in the 1990s, and curated the South African Pavilion for the 2015 Venice Biennale – and that’s just scratching the surface.