From iconic public artworks (discover a few of our favourites), intriguing street art, and established galleries and museums, to trailblazing indie spaces and the hardworking artists' studios in the city centre, Johannesburg is a city for art lovers. We update this guide weekly to help you navigate these ever-changing creative spaces, from a curated selection of solo and group shows, artist-led walkabouts, and workshops, to guided tours, and other art-related events worth your while.
Art picks of the week (Thu, Mar 5 – Thu, Mar 12, 2026)
And just like that March is upon us. If you're also wondering where the first two months of the year went, then it might be a good time to slow down with a visit to a gallery. Luckily, there's plenty to see in Joburg this week, with a packed First Thursday of the month and some superb-looking new exhibitions. Here are our top picks of the week.Keyes Art Night
Photo: Keyes Art Mile.
Thu, Mar 5 from 17:00: This month's edition of Keyes Art Night is one that we think you'd be silly to miss out on. Aside from the stellar exhibition Groundwork in Gallery 1, a fascinating portrayal of how our built environments are formed both materially and imaginatively, you can see Michael Meyersfeld and Stompie Selibe's collaboration at Lizamore on Keyes. In a tribute to Lunga Ntila, BKhz hold a retrospective of the artist's suggestive and distorted portraits.
What we're most excited for is our collaboration with Keyes Art Mile in The Atrium. Among the panoramic maps of Titus Matiyane, you'll find a Makers' Table with maps and guides of Joburg – including some from the Johannesburg In Your Pocket archives. Get inspired by the exhibitions, and the major excavations taking place in the run-up to Keyes Art Mile 2.0, and then draw, write, cut up or collage the maps to mark your own lived experiences. The different works will then be assembled together to create an evolving portrait of Rosebank and Johannesburg. While there, make sure to scan the QR code at the table to meet Jo, our Johannesburg in Your Pocket GPT.
First Thursdays at 223 Creative Hub
Thu, Mar 5 from 17:30: Head to 223 Creative Hub along Jan Smuts Avenue for three new exhibitions to absorb, and a treat for your taste buds too. Candice Berman Gallery presents a preview of Restone Maambo and Shana Ellappa's new exhibitions, and artist-in-residence at The Creatory, Simnikiwe Sibisi, hosts Ifa Lokubuka. In Prowess, Maambo hones in on strength as a quiet embodiment in oneself with expressive yet assured portraits. Ellappa's The Field as Witness sounds like a fascinating and necessary engagement with the landscape of Kwa-Zulu Natal as a living archive of indentured labour on sugarcane plantations.
One of the things that we're most looking forward to is being able to enjoy the exhibitions with Jack Rabbit Chocolate Studio, arguably the best chocolatier in South Africa. Known for their exquisite bon bons, you'll hesitate to eat them until you've tasted your first one. And to add to those flavours is Cup Classique's new flagship tea store.
Can't make it? There's an official opening for Prowess and The Field as Witness on Sat, Mar 7 from 11:00. The programme will be much the same, with a talk on insuring art by product head of ITOO Artinsure, Gail Bosch, added to the mix.
More First Thursday fun
Thu, Mar 5 from 16:00: We popped by Melville Art Mile in February and it was incredible to see the suburb busy with creativity and energy. For March, they bring a “Best 20” map that will point you in the direction of all the main hubs and attractions, and we promise you won't be disappointed. Register here to get your free map and access to specials at the bars and restaurants on the strip.
Thu, Mar 5 at 18:00: From curator and researcher Lily van Rensburg, It’s noon and the sunbeam is late at Origins Centre distorts the Voortrekker Monument archive with replicas, souvenirs, and references, adding to ongoing discussions on how to engage with colonial and apartheid-era artworks and monuments in South Africa’s heritage landscape.
Artist Proof Studio at Strauss & Co
Tue, Mar 10: Artist Proof Studio (APS), an open-access arts centre and print studio, get their 35-year anniversary celebrations under way with Artist Proof Studio at 35: A Continuing Commitment to Artists, Access and Excellence, at Strauss & Co. It's an excellent way to add a kick to the start of your week with the show bringing together works by more than 50 former APS students, including early prints and new works made at APS; the exhibition is a living timeline of South Africa’s print‑making scene. Add Sat, Mar 14 to your calendar for a panel discussion and exhibition from 11:00 – 13:00.
More Joburg art highlights
SEE BEFORE THE END OF MARCHUntil Sat, Mar 7 – Portrait Shift sees Eric Duplan rework the language of portraiture at Gallery 2 with works that resist fixed readings.
Until mid-Mar – Icelandic artist Erla S. Haraldsdóttir creates portals that connect symbols and experiences across millennia at Origins Centre with Imagine Visionary Animals.
Until Fri, Mar 20 – Wits Art Museum revisits the radical legacy and lyrical abstractions of Bill Ainslie with Intersections: Bill Ainslie and the Johannesburg Art Foundation. Read our review.
Until Fri, Mar 20 – David Krut Gallery gets its 2026 programme going with two exhibitions that explore making, desire, and process. Untitled Excursion Series marks Blessing Ngobeni's first venture into intaglio printmaking and he translates his energetic, physical approach to drawing onto copper plates. Phumulani Ntuli looks at the surreal ways desire is shaped in the digital age with Wish List.
Until Sat, Mar 21 – Drawing on decades of engagement with Africa’s wilderness, Paul Augustinus' paintings for African Refugia at Everard Read Gallery are painstakingly detailed depictions of places beyond human reach.
Until Sat, Mar 21 – Goodman Gallery brings two special exhibitions by Guy Simpson and Hank Willis Thomas. Was Here sees Guy Simpson mapping the changes to Johannesburg since his youth, while Hank Willis Thomas probes memory, shared histories and connections with Forever Now.
Until end March – Gallery MOMO's Summer Group Show is a dynamic exhibition across modern and contemporary art featuring Tafadzwa Tega, Vivien Kohler, Dumile Feni, Velaphi Mzimba, and others.
Until end March – Palimpsest at Lizamore on Keyes brings together photographer Michael Meyersfeld and painter-musician Stompie Selibe in a dynamic meeting of practices alongside new works by Lien Botha, Nellien Brewer, and Jacki McInnes.
Until end March – Below the Surface at the gallery is a group exhibition across print and mixed media where marks become shifting traces of touch, movement, and memory.
SEE BEFORE THE END OF APRIL
Until Fri, Apr 10 – Bag Factory Artists' Studios kick off their 35th anniversary celebrations with Maungo, a showcase of the current crop of artists with a special tribute to co-founder David Koloane.
Artists' Studios.
Until Fri, Apr 10 – FADA Gallery and the ARAK Collection collaborate for two exhibitions stemming from the ARAK Curatorial Fellowship.
In After Material curator Max Diallo Jakobsen examines how artists work with materials already loaded with social, political, and economic histories, treating matter as both medium and archive. And in There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of), Soukaina Aboulaoula approaches abstraction as a language that carries histories, memories, psychic states, and cosmologies.
Until Sun, Apr 12 – What happens when the stewards are gone? In Modiši wa go botega, Setlamorago Mashilo takes the figure of the shepherd at Constitution Hill and asks hard questions about leadership, care, and responsibility in our communities.
Until Thu, Apr 30 – One and the Many brings leading South African contemporary artists into dialogue with the collections at Javett-UP in a fascinating examination of the old and the new that "aims to open up different possibilities for reading images and artwork".
SEE BEFORE THE END OF MAY
Until Sun, May 31 – Fashion_The Image at Roger Ballen Centre for Photography trace the evolution of fashion photography in South Africa and its relationship to identity, authorship, and global visual culture.
SEE BEFORE THE END OF JULY
Until Fri, Jul 31 – A brand-new art space, A42 House opens its doors with Grounded, a co-created exhibition shaped by voices in Johannesburg reflecting on home, belonging, and place. Keep an eye on A42 House's Instagram for talks, workshops, and other pop-up events.
Ongoing – NIROX Sculpture Park and the Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture place works by Edoardo Villa alongside other South African sculptors to explore the legacy of the artist with Villa+ the next generation.
Save the date
May 22 – May 24 – The exquisite Shepstone Gardens plays host to RMB Latitudes Art Fair with 2026 featuring a special international focus on contemporary Nigerian art in collaboration with Yenwa Gallery. Keep an eye on @latitudes.online on Instagram for the ticket announcement.Sep 4 – Sep 6 – FNB Art Joburg, the longest-running art fair in Africa, transforms the Sandton Convention Centre with curated sections, large-scale installations and more.
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