FEBRUARY 2025 – As one of the Mother City’s most vibrant cultural destinations, Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town continues to champion the arts with a bold new exhibition in partnership with the Norval Foundation, curated by RESERVOIR. ‘Disrupting the Dream: Surreal Narratives’ brings together some of the most compelling artistic voices from across the country and continent, decorating the Pink Lady’s historied halls. On display until the end of October 2025, the collection invites guests to step beyond the everyday and into a world shaped by the power of the subconscious, the dreamlike, and the uncanny.
Mount Nelson’s eclectic cultural calendar reflects its commitment to sustainable luxury travel experiences and meaningful engagement with South Africa’s creative community. Through an ongoing partnership with the Norval Foundation—renowned for its curatorial excellence and commitment to fostering critical conversations around contemporary art—and award-winning curators RESERVOIR, the hotel continues to reinvigorate its spaces with thoughtfully curated exhibitions. This latest showcase builds on a history of acclaimed collaborations, offering a fresh perspective on contemporary African art through an immersive and sublimely surreal body of work.
‘Disrupting the Dream: Surreal Narratives’ draws inspiration from the spirit of Surrealism, an artistic movement originally rooted in a response to the anxieties of its time—war, colonialism, and the mechanisation of society. The movement sought refuge in alternate realities. Today, as the world once again faces profound shifts, the need to engage with alternative realities feels urgent once again. This exhibition revisits those themes, delving into the subconscious, examining symbolic narratives, cultural memory, and the interplay between reality and imagination.
Reframing Surrealism beyond its Eurocentric origins, curators Heinrich Groenewald and Shona van der Merwe of RESERVOIR have drawn on artistic expressions from across the Global South. “We started by thinking about leisure, slumber, dreaming and travelling,” they explain, “And how a flurry of fantasy could take flight within Mount Nelson. By creating a focus on the power of the subconscious, we’re exploring motifs within figurative painting and photography that reach beyond mere representation, examining the works of African artists from the 60s until now through a renewed lens.”
The exhibition takes viewers on a journey from the external to the internal, with languid portraits and liminal spaces inviting discovery throughout Mount Nelson’s public areas. Visitors can sit among the artwork in the hotel’s legendary lounge or indulge in its infamous Afternoon Tea surrounded by works that challenge the imagination. Comprising largely of figurative paintings, photography and mixed media, the exhibition includes pieces from a host of celebrated artists including Dada Khanyisa, Aviwe Plaatjie, Gregory Olympio, Kate Gottgens, Georgina Gratrix, Wole Lagunju, Portia Zvavahera, David Goldblatt, Zanele Muholi, Berni Searle, Cassi Namoda, Dawit L. Petros, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Virginia Chihota, Mawande Ka Zenzile, Gerhard Marx, Cheri Samba, Richard Mudariki and Karel Nel.
The 19 artists beckon visitors into both the personal and collective subconscious, revealing the fluidity of African storytelling and the power of artistic metamorphosis. Portia Zvavahera’s intimate dreamlike compositions and Mawande Ka Zenzile’s layered landscapes reimagining the land as a site of memory invite the subconscious to take form. Disrupting the Dream brings historical narratives to life through an African lens.
“This exhibition allows us to highlight artists who are redefining visual storytelling in Africa,” says Caroline Greyling, Museum Director of Norval Foundation. “We are delighted to collaborate with Mount Nelson, a place deeply rooted in Cape Town’s cultural fabric, to present a collection that reflects the depth and diversity of artistic expression on the continent.”
Visit Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town, to experience ‘Disrupting the Dream: Surreal Narratives’, on show now until the end of October 2025.FEBRUARY 2025 – As one of the Mother City’s most vibrant cultural destinations, Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town continues to champion the arts with a bold new exhibition in partnership with the Norval Foundation, curated by RESERVOIR. ‘Disrupting the Dream: Surreal Narratives’ brings together some of the most compelling artistic voices from across the country and continent, decorating the Pink Lady’s historied halls. On display until the end of October 2025, the collection invites guests to step beyond the everyday and into a world shaped by the power of the subconscious, the dreamlike, and the uncanny.
Mount Nelson’s eclectic cultural calendar reflects its commitment to sustainable luxury travel experiences and meaningful engagement with South Africa’s creative community. Through an ongoing partnership with the Norval Foundation—renowned for its curatorial excellence and commitment to fostering critical conversations around contemporary art—and award-winning curators RESERVOIR, the hotel continues to reinvigorate its spaces with thoughtfully curated exhibitions. This latest showcase builds on a history of acclaimed collaborations, offering a fresh perspective on contemporary African art through an immersive and sublimely surreal body of work.
‘Disrupting the Dream: Surreal Narratives’ draws inspiration from the spirit of Surrealism, an artistic movement originally rooted in a response to the anxieties of its time—war, colonialism, and the mechanisation of society. The movement sought refuge in alternate realities. Today, as the world once again faces profound shifts, the need to engage with alternative realities feels urgent once again. This exhibition revisits those themes, delving into the subconscious, examining symbolic narratives, cultural memory, and the interplay between reality and imagination.
Reframing Surrealism beyond its Eurocentric origins, curators Heinrich Groenewald and Shona van der Merwe of RESERVOIR have drawn on artistic expressions from across the Global South. “We started by thinking about leisure, slumber, dreaming and travelling,” they explain, “And how a flurry of fantasy could take flight within Mount Nelson. By creating a focus on the power of the subconscious, we’re exploring motifs within figurative painting and photography that reach beyond mere representation, examining the works of African artists from the 60s until now through a renewed lens.”
The exhibition takes viewers on a journey from the external to the internal, with languid portraits and liminal spaces inviting discovery throughout Mount Nelson’s public areas. Visitors can sit among the artwork in the hotel’s legendary lounge or indulge in its infamous Afternoon Tea surrounded by works that challenge the imagination. Comprising largely of figurative paintings, photography and mixed media, the exhibition includes pieces from a host of celebrated artists including Dada Khanyisa, Aviwe Plaatjie, Gregory Olympio, Kate Gottgens, Georgina Gratrix, Wole Lagunju, Portia Zvavahera, David Goldblatt, Zanele Muholi, Berni Searle, Cassi Namoda, Dawit L. Petros, Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Virginia Chihota, Mawande Ka Zenzile, Gerhard Marx, Cheri Samba, Richard Mudariki and Karel Nel.
The 19 artists beckon visitors into both the personal and collective subconscious, revealing the fluidity of African storytelling and the power of artistic metamorphosis. Portia Zvavahera’s intimate dreamlike compositions and Mawande Ka Zenzile’s layered landscapes reimagining the land as a site of memory invite the subconscious to take form. Disrupting the Dream brings historical narratives to life through an African lens.
“This exhibition allows us to highlight artists who are redefining visual storytelling in Africa,” says Caroline Greyling, Museum Director of Norval Foundation. “We are delighted to collaborate with Mount Nelson, a place deeply rooted in Cape Town’s cultural fabric, to present a collection that reflects the depth and diversity of artistic expression on the continent.”
Visit Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, Cape Town, to experience ‘Disrupting the Dream: Surreal Narratives’, on show now until the end of October 2025.
