Discover JCAF: The Johannesburg Art Space Challenging How We See the Future

Johannesburg has no shortage of places to explore, but every now and then, you come across somewhere that offers a different kind of experience. The Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF) is one of those places.

Located in Forest Town, JCAF is a non-profit contemporary art foundation that explores the intersection of art and technology. Its approach goes beyond displaying artworks. Through research, exhibitions, talks, guided tours and publications, the foundation creates opportunities for visitors to engage with ideas that shape our understanding of the world.

And right now, there is a particularly good reason to visit.

JCAF is presenting Reverse Futures, an exhibition that asks us to reconsider how we imagine tomorrow by looking more closely at the histories, cultures and experiences that have brought us to the present.

Running until 5 December 2026, it is the final exhibition in the foundation's three-part Worldmaking series. Entry is free, making it an opportunity to experience contemporary art and ideas without paying an admission fee.

First, what is JCAF?

Launched in 2020, the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation is a research-driven institution dedicated to advancing the appreciation of modern and contemporary art, with a particular focus on producing, sharing and preserving knowledge from the Global South.

Unlike a traditional gallery that maintains a permanent collection, JCAF does not own or house its own art collection. Instead, it develops exhibitions around specific research themes, allowing each presentation to explore a subject in depth.

Its approach brings together artists, researchers, architects, scientists and other thinkers. The result is a programme that connects art with wider conversations about society, history, technology and the environment.

JCAF also extends its work beyond the exhibition space through talks, performances, workshops, podcasts and publications. Its exhibitions are supported by research that visitors can explore through accompanying reading material and other resources.

The foundation's approach is built around creating an immersive and personal experience. Visitors are welcomed by a member of staff and introduced to guides and technicians who help them navigate the exhibition, offering context along the way.

It is a space designed not only for looking at art, but also for asking questions, discovering unfamiliar perspectives and spending time with ideas that might stay with you long after your visit.

A heritage building with a modern identity

Part of what makes JCAF worth visiting is the building itself.

The foundation occupies a former electrical tram shed and substation that formed part of Johannesburg's tram network, which operated between 1906 and 1961. Today, the building is a listed city heritage site and an important example of the Modern Movement in architecture.

In 2022, the building received the Herbert Prins Colosseum Trophy and Heritage Award.

Its restoration was designed to preserve the original character of the structure while introducing contemporary architectural elements. The original brickwork remains, complemented by a bespoke steel and glass façade and a distinctive steel entrance structure.

The result is a meeting point between Johannesburg's architectural history and a contemporary cultural institution.

JCAF's 450-square-metre exhibition space is equipped to museum standards, with carefully controlled temperature, humidity, lighting and security. The design preserves the building's heritage while providing a suitable environment for displaying and experiencing contemporary artworks.

It is an interesting setting for an institution concerned with the relationship between history, the present and what comes next.

Inside Reverse Futures

The current exhibition, Reverse Futures, brings together artists, researchers and architects who are challenging conventional ideas about technological progress and what the future should look like.

Rather than treating the future as something separate from history, the exhibition starts from the idea that our past and present are inseparable from what comes next.

Colonialism, migration, environmental change and technological development continue to shape the world we inhabit. The exhibition explores these connections through historical research, Indigenous knowledge systems, community narratives and the lived experiences of artists from the Global South.

At its centre is a question worth sitting with: whose knowledge shapes our understanding of the future, and who gets to decide what that future looks like?

Much of the way we imagine tomorrow is influenced by dominant Western narratives of technological progress. Reverse Futures challenges that approach by making space for other perspectives, particularly those rooted in African histories, Indigenous knowledge and the experiences of communities whose stories have often been overlooked.

The exhibition does not reject technology outright. Instead, it asks us to consider how technology develops, whose interests it serves and whether it can help create a more equitable and sustainable world.

Why is it called Reverse Futures?

The title comes from Cave_bureau, a Nairobi-based architectural practice founded by Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi.

The collective uses the idea of reverse futurism to explore how confronting historical injustices can help create different possibilities for the future.

The premise is that building something better requires more than looking ahead. It also requires understanding and addressing the mistakes and inequalities inherited from the past.

In this context, history is not simply something to study and leave behind. It continues to influence how societies are organised, how land is used, how people move across borders and how technology shapes everyday life.

Reverse Futures invites visitors to consider what might become possible if those histories were confronted rather than ignored.

Three ways to think about the future: Space, Time and Place

The exhibition unfolds through three interconnected sections, each offering a different way to consider the relationship between history, technology and the world around us.

Space: imagining beyond the boundaries we know

The first section explores space and astronomy through painting, sculpture and installation.

Here, space becomes more than the physical universe. It is also a way to think about imagination, migration, memory and the possibilities of creating new worlds.

One of the featured works is Yinka Shonibare's Refugee Astronaut X (2024), which uses the figure of an astronaut to prompt questions about displacement, belonging and the search for a place to call home.

The section also includes Satellites 27 (2020), a work by Lebanese-American artist Etel Adnan, and Event Horizon (2026) by South African artist and researcher Kamil Adam Hassim.

Together, these works invite visitors to think about the cosmos not simply as a territory to conquer, but as a space for imagination and alternative ways of understanding our place in the world.

Time: confronting the histories we carry

The second section brings together works by Cave_bureau and South African artist Ernest Mancoba.

Cave_bureau's Shimoni Slave Cave installation explores the history and memory associated with the Shimoni slave caves in Kenya. Accompanied by video and a scale model, the work draws attention to the relationship between architecture, the landscape and histories of slavery.

Alongside it is a painting by Ernest Mancoba, an influential South African-born artist whose life and work connected African artistic traditions with European modernism.

The pairing creates a conversation about race, slavery, modernity and African identity. It also explores how marks, patterns and forms can carry meaning across different periods and contexts.

Rather than presenting history as something fixed in the past, this section asks visitors to consider how its effects continue to shape the present.

Place: the stories that make a home

The final section explores place through community, storytelling, ecology and technology.

South African artist Georgia Munnik presents works including Concrete Jasmine (2026) and The Strangling Fruit (2026), using sensory and artistic approaches to examine how we relate to our environments.

Argentine interdisciplinary artist Paula Gaetano Adi contributes Guanaquerx (2024), while Traci Kwaai's virtual-reality installation Fisher Child (2025) draws on the histories and experiences of fishing communities in Kalk Bay.

Kwaai is a sixth-generation Kalk Bay fisher child whose work engages with community memory, belonging and the experiences of people affected by displacement.

This section considers how technology can transport us into imagined worlds, how scent can evoke memory and how storytelling can help us connect with places and communities.

It is a reminder that our relationship with the environment is not only physical. It is also emotional, cultural and shaped by the stories we inherit.

The artists and thinkers behind the exhibition

Reverse Futures brings together an international group of artists, architects and researchers whose practices span contemporary art, architecture, robotics, technology and cultural research.

The featured artists are Etel Adnan, Cave_bureau, Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, Paula Gaetano Adi, Kamil Adam Hassim, Traci Kwaai, Ernest Mancoba, Georgia Munnik and Yinka Shonibare.

The exhibition also includes special projects by Wolff Architects and Johannesburg-based illustrator and researcher Rebecca Potterton.

One of the exhibition's central works is Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power since 1500 (2023), by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler.

This extensive visual installation traces relationships between technological systems and structures of power over several centuries. Through hundreds of illustrations and texts, it explores how technology and society have developed together, touching on colonialism, militarisation and automation.

The work is particularly relevant at a time when artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and automation are changing how people live and work. It encourages visitors to look beyond the promises of technological progress and examine the histories and power structures embedded within it.

Across the exhibition, the artists offer different ways to think about memory, identity, migration, ecology, the cosmos and the future of human life.

More than an art exhibition

What makes Reverse Futures interesting is the way it connects seemingly different subjects.

A discussion about space becomes a conversation about migration. An architectural installation opens up questions about slavery and historical memory. A virtual-reality experience becomes a way to engage with community histories and the environment.

These connections are central to JCAF's approach. The foundation uses contemporary art as a starting point for exploring wider questions, encouraging visitors to make their own connections between the works and the world around them.

You do not need to be an art expert to engage with the exhibition. The guided experience offers context, while the variety of artistic approaches gives visitors different ways into the subject matter.

Whether you are interested in architecture, technology, history, contemporary art or simply discovering a different side of Johannesburg, there is plenty to explore.

Plan your visit to JCAF

If you are looking for something different to do in Johannesburg, Reverse Futures is an opportunity to experience a research-driven contemporary art exhibition in a heritage setting.

Exhibition:Reverse Futures
Venue: Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF)
Address: No. 1 Durris Road, Forest Town, Johannesburg
Dates: 26 June to 5 December 2026
Admission: Free
Public visiting days: Tuesday to Saturday
Visiting time slots: 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00
Booking: Advance booking is required
Contact: info@jcaf.org.za / 010 900 2204

Visits are by appointment, so make sure you reserve a slot before arriving. Secure parking and disability access are available.

JCAF does not have a restaurant or coffee shop, so plan to visit a nearby café or restaurant separately if you would like to make a day of it.

To book your visit, head to the official JCAF website at https://jcaf.org.za/visit/.

Reverse Futures runs until 5 December 2026, giving Johannesburg residents and visitors time to experience the exhibition before it closes.

Sometimes discovering a city means looking beyond the usual restaurants, markets and nightlife spots. JCAF offers another way to spend a few hours in Johannesburg: exploring art, engaging with new ideas and reconsidering the world we are building.