Johannesburg’s museums are throwing open their doors (and spilling into the streets) for four days of art, history, music, storytelling and cultural exploration as the Jozi aMuse Festival of Museums returns for an ambitious citywide edition celebrating International Museum Week, in partnership with Jozi My Jozi.
Curated by Gaisang Sathekge, this immersive festival understands Joburg as one giant living museum, linking some of the city’s most important heritage sites, galleries and creative spaces through guided experiences, exhibitions, performances and after-dark events. “Jozi aMuse is about reimagining the role of museums in society – not as static spaces of preservation, but as living, breathing platforms for dialogue, creativity and connection,” says Sathekge.
Their flagship exhibition, Reimagining Freedom: 50 Years On, captures the ethos of the festival, linking contemporary artists and historic works to create an intergenerational conversation about how the youth of 1976 might have imagined the future, and is curated by Gaisang Sathekge, Gcotyelwa Mashiqa, Katlego Lefine and kumalo | turpin.
What to expect at Jozi aMuse Festival of Museums
Wed, May 20: The festival opens with Routes of Resistance: The Soweto Experience, a historical journey through Soweto aboard the AEC Routemaster – a restored 1952 London bus – from the James Hall Museum of Transport.
With stops at Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, Regina Mundi Catholic Church and June 16 Memorial Acre, Routes of Resistance honours the legacy of the 1976 Soweto Uprising and the people who lived it.
From there, the London bus is replaced with the iconic City Sightseeing Johannesburg red bus, marking the shift between restriction and freedom, with hop-on adventures taking in museums, galleries and hidden creative gems across Johannesburg.
Thu, May 21: Following in the footsteps of the first day, the second day is all about justice, memory and resistance through storytelling, with exhibitions, archival explorations, film screenings and guided tours at Constitution Hill, Ditsong National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre and A42 House: Museum for Creative Repair.
To finish off the day, Saint Germain offers The Freedom Frequencies, an after-hours selection of DJ sets and vinyl storytelling to honour music as a medium for memory.
Fri, May 22: The third day delves into living memory with Museum Africa, South African Hip Hop Museum, Wits Anglo American Digital Dome and Wits Origins Centre. Jumping from digital exhibitions and vinyl DJ workshops to astronomy shows and ancient ochre paintings, the day reveals how heritage continues to be lived, performed and interpreted.
And for the after-hours programme, Artvist showcases a journey through Africa’s musical history with Spin the Archive.
Sat, May 23: After exploring how it came to be, the final leg of the festival places us in the present, with exhibitions, artist walkabouts and conversations at contemporary galleries like Johannesburg Art Gallery, Wits Art Museum, Standard Bank Art Gallery, Studio Mukheli and Roger Ballen Centre for Photography.
At Sumthing Sumthing Vinyl Bar, Seeing Sounds is a high-energy sonic immersion – a silent disco painting session, of course – to close off the festival.
Sign up for this experience
Jozi aMuse Festival of Museums takes place from Wed, May 20 – Sat, May 23, 2026. Think of it as a museum crawl, cultural pilgrimage and Joburg adventure rolled into one. The festival is free, but RSVPs are essential. Book here. For more information email gaisangs@joburg.org.za.
