Stellenbosch Triennale

Manyaku Mashilo, Passage to Prayer, 2023. Image Courtesy the artist, Southern Guild and Stellenbosch Triennale 

By PETRA MASON March 26, 2025

The second Stellenbosch Triennale 'Ba’Zinzile : A Rehearsal for Breathing’ opened late last month with an impressively progressive narrative. Set in the magnificent, historic, wealthy winelands town of Stellenbosch in South Africa's Western Cape, Petra Mason attended the day time opening event.

Arriving into the warm embrace of sunshine in Cape Town, after fleeing the perpetual rain in Johannesburg late last month, I was met at the airport by my friend, muse and plus one for art week, Mira. We jumped right into our VIP invitations, heading directly from the airport to the day time opening of the Stellenbosch Triennale, at the historic Oude Libertas wine farm amphitheatre. The camaraderie between us expert OGs who had been at the first Triennale just days before lockdown in 2020 was palpable. In the blazing African sun, equipped with big hats, fans and parasols guests were welcomed by Cape based ceremony maker Ernestine Deane’s spoken word performance reflecting on her mixed race ancestral lineage in an historically fractured landscape.The tenderness of her voice, wisdom and radicalism of her words a poultice for the soul particularly for us bad news refugees.

The 2025 Stellenbosch Triennale features a line-up of multidisciplinary artists from the African continent and beyond. Chief curator Khanyisile Mbongwa invites us to experience 'Ba’Zinzile : A Rehearsal for Breathing' to ‘explore these themes, engage in the practice of insistence and find stillness and sustained breath amidst chaos.’ 

Opening the doors of learning and culture, the free to all, not-for-profit Triennale presentations On the Cusp, In the Current and From the Vault feature exhibitions in galleries and landscapes framed by blue mountains and winelands about 50 km outside of Cape Town. 

The organizational force behind the Triennale, Andi Norton tells me the Stellenbosch Triennale and Stellenbosch University have joined forces with the arts initiative Outset Contemporary Art Fund to introduce the Arts-Based Inquiry Initiative. The active programme explores the transformative role of the arts in education and learning for some of Stellenbosch’s under-served schools. The initiative runs during the Triennale (now to 30 April) and represents a significant step in addressing educational challenges through creative methodologies, while also aiming to engage with education policymakers’ says Norton.

The website is an exploration and education all of its own and profiles the artists https://www.stellenboschtriennale.com

The year’s exhibit is an exploration of art, community, and improvisation. Championing the belief that ‘the arts offer a unique environment where mistakes are not stigmatised but rather embraced as part of the learning process, cultivating problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity —  skills essential for the 21st century’ -- the second Stellenbosch Triennale living up to the first Stellenbosch Triennale promise of ‘Tomorrow there will be more of Us’.

On view at three Stellenbosch locations including The Rupert Museum, Oude Libertas and Stellenbosch University Museum until 30 April, 2025. WM