News | Works of Art Collection

Discover the UCT Works of Art Collection (WOAC), a lively presence in university life, showcased through the committee’s initiatives, events and exhibitions held on and off campus.

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Thirty years of freedom: Transforming UCT’s art collection

“Art speaks beyond what we can say verbally. It allows us to address pertinent, worldly issues that we simply don’t have the words for and view them through a very different lens. So, by transforming the University...

Crew installing artwork on university campus

VIDEO: Art and transformation: UCT’s vision for a just society

The University of Cape Town’s Works of Art Collection (WOAC) committee is advancing its exploration of art’s transformative power to foster inclusive spaces for critical discourse and knowledge creation.

Participants of the WOAC Workshop at UCT Libraries, September 2024. Photo: Lerato Maduna

Changing the art at UCT Libraries

The Chancellor Oppenheimer Library is the heartbeat of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Now, this central space for learning and research is set to transform its existing art display with a new installation of...

The Fire This Time

The Works of Art Committee is pleased to welcome four new live art commissions to the university art collection. A set of provocations, The Fire This Time invites us to think anew, to feel, to see, and to hear the affective resonance ...

Faatimah Mohamed-Luke: Come as You Are (detail)

NEW: Faatimah Mohamed-Luke: Come as You Are (2022)

It is our pleasure to welcome Faatimah Mohamed-Luke' Come as You Are (2022) to the UCT Works of Art Collection. This recent acquisition will enrich our African Modern Art collection.

VIDEO: The Fire This Time launch of live art collection

Launch of the live art collection "The Fire This Time" on 15 September 2022 at the University of Cape Town's (UCT) Sarah Baartman precinct on upper campus. UCT Works of Art Collection (WOAC) in collaboration with the Institute for Creativ

UCT Works of Art Collection

In 2022, WOAC focused on the development of a curatorial policy and continued to ensure that artworks on campus are relevant to marginalised groups and respond to their realities; while the Irma Stern Museum hosted a range of installations,

Heritage Day: UCT’s art curators aim for representative, researchable collection

At the centre of UCT's cultural heritage is a disparate 1400-piece art collection by over 700 artists, accumulated over decades. But there are glaring gaps in the collection that must be addressed, says WOAC committee chairperson Makhubu.

A fire in our (he)art

The UCT Works of Art Collection (WOAC) in collaboration with the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) launched a collection of four live works of art on 15 September 2022, turning the Sarah Baartman precinct into a gallery of performat

EVENT: "The Fire This Time" – launch of live art collection with outdoor films on Upper Campus

Coming up: Thu 15 Sep 2022, 4:30 pm. WOAC launches live art collection with outdoor films on Upper Campus. Programme includes screenings, umsebenzi, music, reading, presentation and conversa

EXHIBITION: Lives of Marikana, Connections & Continuities

11 – 19 August 2022 | Exhibition opening: 15 August, 5 pm. An exhibition commemorating the 2012 Marikana massacre, held at the UCT Centre for African Studies Gallery.

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