UJ Art Gallery, in partnership with the MTN SA Foundation and with institutional support from Iziko Museums South Africa, proudly presents the 2025 – 2026 rendition of the MTN x UJ New Contemporaries Award (NCA) Exhibition – Holding sp(l)ace for the in__between , curated by Amogelang Maledu. Presented at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda from 26 June – 5 July 2026, this curated group exhibition brings together the work of Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Zara Julius, thato makatu, and Unathi Mkonto.
Holding sp(l)ace for the in__between is situated within the complexities of the contemporary moment, refusing thematic closure to make contemporaneity itself a character of the exhibition engaging questions of refusal, collective survival, and Black feminist thought through sound, land, home, and breath. Distinct in approach yet united in their provocation, each artist navigates the exhibition’s in-between through the particularities of their practice.
Buhlungu’s iterative sound installation, rooted in gospel and diasporic memory, engages histories of Black mobility and collective listening. Julius, who describes her work as a chamber orchestra of breath, uses live instrumentation and layered sonic composition to explore breathing as both collective survival and an archive of ancestral continuity.
makatu unpacks ideas of home, loss, and Black middle-class identity through paper-based modelmaking, printmaking, and installation – framing the process as reparative play within the threshold of the medium’s ambiguous impermanence. Mkonto leans into his architecture-informed practice – approaching matters of land and the built environment through wooden sculptural forms that imagine sustainable and human-centred futures grounded in agriculture and collective care.
“Holding sp(l)ace for the in__between refuses the general framework of themed exhibitions and instead makes contemporaneity a character of the show. The space holding becomes an open process of negotiating ideas, while the physical place (the exhibition itself) is where intervention and collective participation become possible,” says Maledu, winner of the 2025-2026 MTN x UJ New Contemporaries Curator award.
Her research engages, broadly, with the curatorial as a research framework, particularly in Black popular cultures and sonic-based cultural practices.
Re-launched in 2022, the MTN x UJ New Contemporaries Award builds on the strategic partnership between the MTN SA Foundation and the UJ Art Gallery – a collaboration that has been flourishing since 2017. This exhibition marks a significant milestone in that ongoing relationship.
The award is central to the Foundation’s commitment to supporting South Africa’s arts sector and creating opportunities for promising young talent. Through this initiative, the MTN SA Foundation and UJ Art Gallery empower emerging curators by providing curatorial and institutional support, helping to launch their careers and develop the next generation of contemporary South African artists and curators.
The exhibition itself reflects this shared commitment to critical artistic practice and socially engaged cultural dialogue. This platform continues to create spaces where artists and audiences can engage with work that speaks to contemporary realities, while expanding access to meaningful cultural participation.
Exhibition Venue: Gallery in the Round and New Gallery, The Settlers Monument , National Arts Festival, Makhanda
Dates: 26 June – 5 July 2026
