“Turning Towards the Sun” at Zeitz MOCAA: AFMAC exhibition marks the culmination of Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car project following a series of five inter

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“Turning Towards the Sun” at Zeitz MOCAA: AFMAC exhibition marks the culmination of Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car project following a series of five inter-continental workshops.

15.10.2026Press Release

+++ Landmark exhibition presented by Zeitz MOCAA, AFMAC, and BMW on view from 11 December 2026 to 15 August 2027 +++ BMW Art Car #20 designed by Julie Mehretu on display in the museum’s Atrium Bowl +++ Works by six artists and filmmakers exploring Pan-African solidarity and moving image practices +++

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Munich/Cape Town. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art
Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), the African Film and Media Arts Collective
(AFMAC) and BMW present “Turning Towards the Sun” an
exhibition bringing together six artists and filmmakers to explore
moving image and collective learning practices on the Continent:
Ethiopian director ZeresenayBerhane Mehari, French-Senegalese filmmaker
Mati Diop, Kenyan multidisciplinary artist
Jim Chuchu, Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri
Kahiu, African-American poet Robin Coste
Lewis, and British interdisciplinary artist collective
The Otolith Group. The exhibition will be on view
from 11 December 2026 to 15 August 2027 on Level 4 of the Museum.

The catalyst for this continental project and exhibition was
Julie Mehretu’s nomination as the artist for the
BMW Art Car #20 that will be on display in Zeitz MOCAA’s Atrium Bowl
for the duration of the exhibition. Inspired by Arundhati
Roy’s 2020 reflection that “the pandemic is a portal”,
Mehretu approached this commission as a way of constructing portals
into new worlds shaped by Pan-African perspectives and brought to life
by the histories and futures of Pan-African cinema.Together with
filmmaker Mehret Mandefro and late Executive Director
and Chief Curator of Zeitz MOCAAKoyo Kouoh, Mehretu
began constructing these gateways through the African Film and Media
Arts Collective (AFMAC) and a series of five inter-continental
workshops – held in Lagos, Nigeria; Tangier, Morocco; Nairobi, Kenya;
Dakar, Senegal; and Cape Town, South Africa – led by artists,
including several participating in the exhibition.

Julie Mehretu reflects: “For me, the idea of a portal
is about opening up possibilities – creating space to imagine beyond
the worlds we have inherited. African cinema holds an extraordinary
history of artists using the moving image to document and reimagine
their realities. Through AFMAC, we create opportunities for artists to
encounter one another, and to explore what could emerge when these
histories and perspectives come into conversation.”

Peter van Binsbergen, Chairman and CEO of BMW South
Africa: “For more than 50 years, BMW has been committed to
culture, with the BMW Art Cars at the heart of this engagement.
‘Turning Towards the Sun’ demonstrates the catalytic power of artistic
freedom: what began with Julie Mehretu’s vision for her BMW Art Car
#20 has evolved into a wider platform for artistic exchange and
collaboration across the African continent. Cultural engagement also
has a strong tradition for BMW in South Africa, not least through our
partnership with Zeitz MOCAA since the museum’s founding.”

Inspired by the ideals of Pan-African solidarity and post-liberation
visions, the exhibition presents video installations which look at
cultural manifestations of women’s rage; the complexities of Black
queer masculinities on the Continent; the youth’s experiences of
complicated political moments; as well as African cosmo-technics and
the expanded field of animation through the literature of Nigerian
author Amos Tutuola. The exhibition also includes a history of
cultural institutions on the Continent and figures who have championed
Africa as a generative site of knowledge production within the field
of filmmaking.

Zeitz MOCAA Assistant CuratorKhanyi Mawhayi remarks: “The exhibition asks, ‘How do
we build sustainable Pan-African social and pedagogical
infrastructures between artists and institutions in Africa?’ ‘Turning
Towards the Sun’ is an invitation to think expansively about cinema
and its related pedagogies; to trace networks of solidarity across
Africa and embrace the generosity that emerges when we imagine people
as the infrastructure that sustains film and cinema on the Continent.”

The title of the exhibition takes its cue from a quote by
Ousmane Sembène in the 1983 documentary
Twenty Years of African Cinema (Caméra d’Afrique)
by Tunisian filmmaker Ferid Boughedir. When
questioned on Europe’s reading of his films, Sembène insists he does
not concern himself with European understandings of his films,
asserting, “Why should I be like a sunflower turning towards the sun?
I, myself, am the sun.” This exhibition recontextualises his statement
to propose that attention to filmmaking from Africa and its diaspora
represents a turning towards the sun. In this context, the sun is the
artistic knowledge and cultural production emerging from the African
continent and its global diaspora, namely, the Black geographies that
exist and inhabit multiple regions of the world.

“Turning Towards the Sun” forms part of Zeitz MOCAA’s ongoing series
of in-depth, research-driven exhibitions that centre and contextualise
the practices of significant artists from Africa and its diaspora,
while engaging with pivotal themes in Pan-African history. Extending
beyond the Continent’s borders, this programme embraces historic and
new connections, positioning Africa in a global context and the world
within Africa. The exhibition is in partnership with BMW and is part
of the African Film and Media Arts Collective (AFMAC) project.

“Turning Towards the Sun” is curated by Zeitz MOCAA Assistant Curator
Khanyi Mawhayi, with support from Dr Phokeng Setai
and Dr Greer Valley, and assistance from
Angela Muritu, Inshaaf Jamodien,
Evyn Banawoye and Reem Aljeally.
Its geographic scope spans what Koyo Kouoh called the “wider Black
geographies of the twenty-first century”.

As a Pan-African and pan-diasporic institution, Zeitz MOCAA remains
committed to presenting and preserving contemporary art from Africa
and its diaspora, advancing art historical knowledge, supporting
artists and strengthening its education programmes, while ensuring
access for all.

Zeitz MOCAA’s curatorial and exhibition programming is generously
supported by the Mellon Foundation and BMW South Africa.

The BMW Group’s Cultural Engagement, with exclusive updates and
deeper insights into its global initiatives can be followed on
Instagram at @BMWGroupCulture.

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