Opening: You will find us in the best places - a survey exhibition of Moshekwa Langa

Join us at Kunstinstituut Melly on Saturday, 24 October 2026, to mark the opening of You will find us in the best places, a major survey exhibition of Moshekwa Langa.

The exhibition will unfold across all four floors of Kunstinstituut Melly, bringing together Moshekwa Langa’s practice, from 1995 to 2026. You will find us in the best places is the most comprehensive presentation of Moshekwa’s work in the Netherlands to date, curated by Gabi Ngcobo, Director of Kunstinstituut Melly, together with co-curator Kabelo Malatsie.

Moshekwa works across mediums including drawing, collage, video, photography, and installation, using readily available materials collected from his surroundings in places he has lived and traveled to. These materials collide with phrases, names, and songs drawn from memory and particular moments, constructing dense, layered works that are perhaps best described as fictions or otherworldly dreamscapes, infused with real events, figures, and places. Rather than reaching conclusions, ideas in Moshekwa’s practice return, repeat, and begin again. Works may start and only be finished years later; chronology and linearity are not employed, things begin again, beginnings are continuous, and instead of conclusions there are pauses and ellipses. Time is nebulous and elastic.

You will find us in the best places offers a pause to reflect on Moshekwa’s practice across three decades. The exhibition is choreographed to reveal recurring themes, questions, and interests, marking time not linearly, but through a continuous unfolding across his practice.

Opening program

The exhibition opens to the public at 12:00 PM, with the official opening program beginning at 2:30 PM.

12:00 PM onwards
TOOLSHED #3 - After Library III, on the second floor is open to the public. The After Library is a tiny, experimental library of clothes and books, blending collective reading with speculative design and the wear of clothing, initiated by Thulile Gamedze and here in collaboration with Tlotliso Skefu.

2:30–3:00 PM
Welcome and opening words on the ground floor by Gabi Ngcobo, director of Kunstinstituut Melly, and curator Kabelo Malatsie.

3:00–3:30 PM
A map of moments, stitched together as a timeline of Moshekwa Langa’s practice, guided by researchers Thato Makatu and Elijah Rhode in the Space of Education & Participation.

From 3:30 PM
A playful educational activity for children and families in the Space for Education and Participation, exploring two traditional South African games: Masekitlana, a storytelling and imaginative play practice, and Diketo, a game played with small stones that involves movement, rhythm and concentration.

3:30 PM
Activation of Vuragelameshoga: Leḽago la vakhegulu, the newly designed MELLY Cantina, by George Mahashe, professor, artist and designer of the space.

From 3:30 PM
MELLY Cantina opens, with music by DJ Jollyfish from 4:00 PM, followed by food by Street Food Gallery from 5:00 PM. The menu features an adaptation of the South African Seven Colors meal, infused with Street Food Gallery’s signature Surinamese and Caribbean flavours. Music and food continue into the evening.

7:00 PM
End of the opening program.