On 13 February, the MTN SA Foundation, in partnership with the UJ Art Gallery, announced Amogelang Maledu as this year’s curator for the MTN x UJ New Contemporaries Award (NCA) programme.
Maledu was successfully selected as the 2025 – 2026 curator by the Legacy Panel and will initiate her research process in March. The programme requires her to conduct comprehensive desk research of emerging South African visual art practitioners working in a contemporary genre. During the research phase, Maledu will also be travelling to studios, galleries, and museums in as many of the provinces as possible; study relevant contemporary literature; and consult extensively with other specialists in the field of contemporary South African art, to enable the nomination of four artists who will participate in an exhibition curated by Maledu at the UJ Art Gallery in 2026.
“Amogelang is a very impressive young curator. Not only is she passionate about working with artists, especially those who are often overlooked, but she is also skilled in translating their unique narratives in exciting ways for audiences. We are honoured to be the host for her next exhibition,.”, says Dr Dineke Orton, curator of the UJ Art Gallery.
The Open Call for curatorial applications to the MTN x UJ New Contemporaries Award (NCA) was launched at a press event during the Free State Arts Festival in Bloemfontein on 6 July 2024. From thirty-seven (37) submissions one guest curator was decided by the NCA Legacy Panel on 25 November 2024. The NCA Legacy Panel consists of four previous MTN New Contemporaries curators namely: Dr Portia Malatjie, Dr Nontobeko Akoi-Jackson, Khwezi Gule and Melissa Goba, with Dr Dineke Orton as the fifth panel member.
During the year, Maledu will focus her work on emerging artists working or moving into the digital or virtual format. This is in line with both the MTN Foundation’s mandate and UJ Arts & Culture’s strategy to advance the discourse around the relationship between the arts and technology. “I am most excited about the VR possibilities because there is an element of technology that will accompany these exhibitions, that I haven’t really worked in before,” says Maledu. Furthermore, the MTN X UJ New Contemporaries Award will have a dedicated space on UJ Art Gallery’s website, Moving Cube, allowing for increased exposure for the curator and participating artists.
As part of the NCA programme for the year, a Winter School will be presented in July 2025 at the FADA Gallery. This educational programme will be designed to transfer art knowledge and skills to school learners.
For more information, contact gallery@uj.ac.za
ABOUT UJ ART GALLERY
Nestled at the heart of the University of Johannesburg’s Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, the UJ Art Gallery has been a dynamic platform for showcasing emerging and established artists for over three decades. With a mission centred on promoting artistic expression, fostering critical engagement with contemporary art, and nurturing Johannesburg’s arts ecosystem, the gallery’s permanent collection of over 2000 artworks reflect South African vibrancy. Through curated exhibitions, educational programs and public events, the UJ Art Gallery cultivates a space for dialogue, reflection, and inspiration.
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ABOUT AMOGELANG MALEDU
Amogelang Maledu is an interdisciplinary art practitioner working between curating, research and sessional lecturing. She is a committee member of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Works of Art Committee, responsible for the institution’s art acquisitions, collection and curations. Maledu coalesced her theoretical background in anthropology, visual culture studies and curatorship to develop an interdisciplinary art practice. Some of her notable career highlights includes winning a Humanities and Social Science (HSS) Award conferred by the National Institute for Humanities and Social Science (NIHSS) in 2024 under the category: Best Emerging Curator; co-curating the inaugural ‘GENERATIONS’ section at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2024; being a workshop participant for curators at the 12th Berlin Biennale in 2022 and serving as the curatorial assistant for the South African Pavilion for the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. She also co-founded a curatorial collective, Re-curators, with Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose and Thembakazi Matroshe.