Norval Foundation’s Sculpture Garden: A Guide to the Artwork

(22 reviews)

Cape Town audio tour: Norval Foundation’s Sculpture Garden: A Guide to the Artwork

This is a 0.5mi walking tour

It takes an average of 45 mins to complete.

Cape Town

South Africa

Free

Access all 20 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

Reviews

About the Tour

Discover the world-class sculptures interspersed within Norval Foundation’s indigenous wetland garden, just behind the museum and restaurant. This walking tour leads you past thirteen powerful artworks by artists from across Africa, including the only large-scale Yinka Shonibare sculpture on the continent.

You’ll meet a man over six metres tall balancing on his head which the artist calls an ‘anti-monument’, and a hollowed-out woman with a cheeky smile. You’ll bump into a radically oversized film camera and a seven-metre tall handkerchief with a vibrant Dutch wax print, frozen in the wind.

Along the way you’ll hear from Keith Kirsten, who created the garden and is responsible for its thoughtful plant selection.

Keep a look out for the endangered western leopard toad! We’ve gone to great lengths to protect this winter resident by constructing concrete culverts for their safe passage from Steenberg Road to the wetland for mating season. Our garden has over 1,000 species of indigenous plants and countless creatures that hide among them, a kids’ play area and ample space to relax or take in the beautiful surroundings.

Whether you’re an art lover or a curious first-time visitor to the museum, this tour of Norval Foundation’s Sculpture Garden will give you fresh appreciation for art and nature. Give yourself at least an hour to enjoy the tour.

Tour Producer

Norval Foundation

1 tour

Welcome to the Norval Foundation. Situated in the Tokai region of Cape Town, the Norval Foundation stands as a testament to the rich tapestry of modern and contemporary art from the African continent and its diaspora. With nine indoor galleries with an ever-evolving exhibition programme, this distinguished art museum serves as a vibrant nexus for showcasing a dynamic array of artworks, encompassing painting, photography, sculpture, and media art, both historical and contemporary. The outdoor sculpture garden, nestled amongst the indigenous wetland’s flora and fauna, provides an enchanting environment for visitors to interact with monumental outdoor sculptures in the permanent collection.

Preview Location

Location 17

William Kentridge - Action

Narrator: This is Action, another sculpture by William Kentridge. He explains it best.

William Kentridge: “Action is a sculpture of a movie camera. It's based on an old movie camera that I've had in my studio for some time. A little bit different to this camera, which is th... Narrator: This is Action, another sculpture by William Kentridge. He explains it best.

William Kentridge: “Action is a sculpture of a movie camera. It's based on an old movie camera that I've had in my studio for some time. A little bit different to this camera, which is the camera that all the animated films were made on for many years. So on the one hand, it's a kind of personal talisman.

It's not exactly a self portrait though, there's something of the portliness of the short legs of the camera, in the sculpture, which feels a kind of self portrait. It started off as a tiny sketch in a notebook expanded from the tiny sketch in a notebook to a sculpture that you could hold in your hands if you were holding the word, camera.

And then it was enlarged to a scale sort of large tabletop scale, which is not a straightforward enlargement, a lot of the objects there's different to what it is to look down on a small sculpture, or to look straight on at a tabletop sculpture, and to look at a three and a half meter sculpture.

The first sculpture is made out of wax which is cast in bronze. The next one also starts off maybe with a kind of polyurethane foam inside which is then covered with wax and shaped. And the large one has been sort of 3d printed enlargement made in polystyrene to give the rough bulk and shape. And then it was reshaped with a mixture of a machete and an electric carving knife to adjust the basic form, and then covered with plaster of paris of and that is carved into and scraped into, and new sections added and the top cut off and then its angle changed.

And once the large plaster of paris version of the full-scale sculptures is made, it gets cut into sections and mold made, and then the bronze cast from those molds. And then those sections welded together, and ground down to get the surface at one had in the original Plaster of Paris, which is a version of somewhat different from the medium size and very different to the small size. So while making the sculpture, the work is essentially about the translation of scale and surface and working technique, rather than meaning.

And I've never really questioned what the meaning of the work is. I've never thought of it as a self portrait until now talking to you. Now this moment, there's something I suppose of a Sunday Times comics section from my early childhood, for a character called the little King, who also had fat pointed legs and a good belly.

And maybe there's an echo even of this childhood image in the sculpture.

It is certainly a sculpture which is about a technology which I used to use, but don't use nearly as much. In South Africa, there are no longer film laboratories that will process 35 millimetre film.

There is something that I suppose of the heroic in it, in its size and it's confidence.

But more than that, I couldn't say what it means.

Narrator: When you're ready, continue along the path. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Norval Foundation

Getting There

Route Overview

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Start location
4 Steenberg Rd, Tokai, Cape Town, 7945, South Africa
Total distance

777m
Final location
-34.07698368, 18.42856298
Distance back to start location

57.55m

Directions to Starting Point

Norval Foundation can be found on Steenberg Road, shortly after the turn off to Ou Kaapse Weg when coming from the M3 highway. It is approximately a 30-minute drive from Cape Town’s city centre and is best reached by car, Uber or taxi. A bicycle stand is provided for cyclists. If you’re unfamiliar with Cape Town, search for ‘Norval Foundation’ in Google Maps, another navigational app or in a GPS unit, to find your way here.

The starting point of the tour begins on Norval Foundation’s exterior deck running along the western side of the building and overlooking the Sculpture Garden. When you arrive at the Foundation and if you haven’t purchased a ticket online or have a valid membership, you’ll need to locate the admissions desk to purchase a ticket or sign up for a membership. If you purchased a ticket online or have a valid membership, go straight to security check point on the ground floor in front of the lift, pass through the security check point where your admissions ticket or membership will be validated, walk to opposite side of the atrium, and exit the double glass doors that lead to the Sculpture Garden. Once outside, turn to your right and begin the tour.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Make the most of our in-house restaurant, The Skotnes, named after the legendary South African artist, Cecil Skotnes.

Best time of day

The Sculpture Garden can be enjoyed at any time of the day. In late spring, summer and early autumn, when it is sunny, it can be very warm so mid-morning or late afternoon is ideal and remember to bring a hat and sunscreen. Cloudy skies won’t diminish your experience. Norval Foundation’s Sculpture Garden, galleries and shop is open 10am - 6pm every day except Tuesday. The Skotnes Restaurant hours vary, so please check our website or speak to a member of staff.

Precautions

The M3 at rush hour can be quite busy so please check Google Maps or your preferred navigation app, for details. Rush hour lasts from 6am to 10am in the morning and 3pm to 6:30pm in the evening, though visitors coming from the city centre will usually be against the traffic. You’re invited to make use of our secure parking for a minimal fee, as you may be ticketed if you choose to park outside of the facility.

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