History takes on a radical new form in From the Vault, one of the cornerstone exhibitions of the 2025 Stellenbosch Triennale, and hosted across two iconic venues: the Rupert Museum and Stellenbosch University Museum.
The exhibition, which runs until 30 April, exhumes buried museum collections and overlooked archives, recontextualising them to ask bold questions about history, heritage and the stories we choose to preserve. Featuring a focus on South African artists, the exhibition serves as a powerful platform for reimagining the past as fertile ground for transformation and healing.
Featured artists
- Kemang Wa Lehulere, whose interdisciplinary practice – spanning sculpture, drawing, installation and performance – interrogates erasure and memory through the poetic reassembly of conceptually charged objects. His work engages personal and collective histories and points to the politics of cultural amnesia and the urgency of decolonial reimagining.
- Lungiswa Joe, a ceramicist whose work channels her heritage through clay, exploring how memory, tradition and lived experience are held and transferred through material. Her practice centres the body and ancestral knowledge systems, often in relation to landscape and healing.
- Andile Dyalvane, one of South Africa’s foremost ceramic artists, who hand-coils monumental forms from terracotta in deep dialogue with Xhosa cosmology. Rooted in the land and language of his birthplace in the Eastern Cape, his sculptures honour ancestral presence and explore themes of identity, connection and transformation.
- Sisonke Papu, a multidimensional storyteller who works across writing, sound, photography and conceptual art. In his series Izithunywa zendalo (messengers of nature), he explores the four elements – earth, water, fire and air – as spiritual and energetic forces that shift human consciousness and enable communion with the unseen.
- Click here for the full list of artists.
Venues
Stellenbosch University Museum Mon – Fri | 9 AM – 4:30 PM
Rupert Museum Tues – Fri | 10 AM – 5 PM and Sat – Sun | 10 AM – 4 PM
Special Stellenbosch Visio Guided Tour Wednesday 23 April | 11 AM | We will be hosting guided tour of the anchor exhibition of the Stellenbosch Triennale at Oude Libertas. The session will feature In the Current, On the Cusp, and Bioscope exhibitions. The tour is FREE but places are limited. Click here to book your tour.
About
The Stellenbosch Triennale is curated by Chief Curator Khanyisile Mbongwa with Assistant Curator Dr. Mike Mavura and presented by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust (SOST) with support from the Outset Contemporary Art Fund, centres this year’s programme around the theme BA’ZINZILE: A Rehearsal for Breathing. This guiding concept shapes a bold and reflective exploration of history, memory and imagination across the Triennale’s exhibitions and public engagements.