National Gallery to get facelift

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe will for the first time since being opened in 1957 undergo massive renovations. The renovations which will begin after the 2014 edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts have been made possible by a donation from the Norwegian Embassy.“The gallery will be closed just after HIFA 2014 and the renovations will see a lot of major upgrades being done on the roof which was now giving us problems of leakages during the rainy season,” said NGZ curator, Raphael Chikukwa.

“We also intend to modernise the gallery to make it accommodate different forms of art such as video exhibitions. At the moment we have not been able to carry them out at international standard because of the transparent roof that brings in light into the rooms, in the new look gallery we will have darkrooms to accommodate video art.

“We are grateful to the Norwegian Embassy for donating a huge lump sum to facilitate the renovations which will cost about US$500 000. This new look facility will definitely improve the way we work with artists and how people in general view art,” added Chikukwa.

The curator also revealed to Zimbo Jam that during the closure of the gallery, exhibitions will continue courtesy of a pavilion the gallery received from the European Union.

“During the galleries closure we will make use of the pavilion we got from the European Union. It enables us to exhibit in different communities throughout the country and we will also station the pavilion in our garden such that as people walk by they can come through and take a look at the beautiful local and international art,” said the curator.

The gallery will be re-opened by an exhibition titled “Basket Case Number 2” which will see works of various basket making artists from Binga all the way to Honde Valley exhibited alongside those of international artists.

The year promises to be a busy for the NGZ which kicks off its calendar with a solo exhibition by award winning artist Nancy Muteki on January 23. She will also host a workshop titled “Mothers and toddlers”.

Other exhibitions to look out for are the Tengenenge, Zimbabwe in Design, Pabonde, Zimbabwe Big Annual exhibition as well as the Women’s exhibition amongst many others. — Zimbojam.