It’s almost time for the third HEAT Winter Arts Festival, which comes to town in August. Here’s the exciting 10-day line-up.
“Out of the cold, into the culture”. The new slogan of the HEAT Winter Arts Festival aptly captures the call to not only revel in culture during the quieter, colder winter days – when outdoor activities are challenging – but articulates the sense of community, the figurative “warmth”, that sharing in culture engenders.
With almost 50 events – ranging from art exhibitions, curator-led walkabouts and talks to theatre productions, live music events, digital art events, dance, opera and performance art – there will be countless opportunities between 6-15 August 2026 for people to come to town and generate or feed off some heat.
It is thrilling to be heading into our third edition, especially off the back of the 70 % jump in audience numbers we experienced last year. This encouraged us to expand our programme by incorporating dance and performance works, while adding new gallery and museum partners.
RETHINK & REWIRE THROUGH ART
Art galleries in the CBD and its outskirts are the focus of the HEAT Winter Arts Festival. Over 15 art exhibitions have been curated to speak to this year's theme: Ctrl + Z, referring to the familiar keyboard shortcut for "undo". The participating galleries are the AVA Gallery; Christopher Moller Gallery; Untitled Art; Eclectica Contemporary; Everard Read/Circa Gallery; Thomarts; SMAC Gallery; WORLDART; House Union Block/Spier Arts Trust; Berman Contemporary All Women Art Gallery; Nel Gallery; Aspire Art Auction House; Peffers Fine Art; THK Gallery: and Artists Gallery at 33 Bree.
The theme has prompted artists and visitors to the festival to consider what it means to reverse, repair, rethink or rewire the systems we have inherited. This extends from our personal or collective histories to the larger capitalist systems, which have played a role in destroying the natural world. Undoing mistakes in the digital sphere differs vastly from that in reality. These thematic strands will unwind in different and interesting ways at the participating galleries.
With almost 10 days to enjoy the art exhibitions during the festival, we have framed this programme with a Slow Looking campaign, which encourages visitors to spend time with a few artworks instead of racing through exhibitions to consume everything.
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) and the Norval Foundation are presenting participatory programmes that will encourage audiences to spend time with a selection of artworks and engage with them through conversation and poetry.
STRING OF EVENTS
An exciting string of events focusing on the relationship between art, music and rewriting wrongs in the digital sphere will play out across the Iziko Old Town House Museum.
These include a video game allowing for the return of stolen African artefacts (Relooted) which will be installed, a curated programme of digital works created for the digital dome at the Iziko Planetarium, and a highly anticipated exhibition dubbed Matereality II will present works by artists driven by their relationship to the materials that shape their art and our world.
The theatre, music, and performance programme mirrors the art exhibitions by showcasing emerging talent across various stages in town, providing essential visibility for rising stars.
MUSIC PROGRAMME
Last year's music programme stood out, featuring sell-out concerts. The Central Methodist Mission on Burg Street was full the night Kujenga and the young female-led jazz band, The Nala Collective, performed. Lemkus Gallery in St Georges Mall was also heaving the night three young female performers, Giullette Price, Mishy Kope and Akeeda, took to the stage.
Presented and curated by Quiet Life, a music production company based in Cape Town known for its commitment to nurturing the city's emerging talents, this year's music programme is poised to create considerable excitement.
In line with our long-term ambition to establish the HEAT Winter Arts Festival as an international event that attracts visitors and performers from across the globe, the highlight of our theatre programme is the play Essays on Dying, created by one of Switzerland's most esteemed theatre makers, Boris Nitikin.
The digital programme to be screened at the dome at the Iziko Planetarium will also feature works by artists from Austria and elsewhere in the world.
The guiding principle driving our programming is high-quality works. Given the programming is tightly curated by experts in different fields and overseen by renowned critics Nkgopoleng Moloi and I, audiences can be assured that every HEAT experience will leave them feeling culture's warm embrace.
HEAT HIGHLIGHTS
Here is a selection of highlights not to miss:
*Opening Night: Celebrated Cape Town choir Amici de Lumine will lead festivalgoers between city-based galleries, which will open their highly anticipated HEAT Festival exhibitions. Other live performance works at galleries will also punctuate the evening. 6 August from 18h00.
*Yasuke, the story of the first African samurai warrior, will be performed in the atmospheric Central Methodist Mission by the Baba Yaya dance company. The work, which was directed and conceptualised by Benjamin Nivison, combines sound, costume and a diverse dance language. 13 & 14 August at 18h00.
*Live Theatre & Song Double Bill: Gauteng (for Ebenhaezer) is a poetic theatre piece that brings South Africa’s cities to life as a fractured family through blending spoken word, live music, and satire. It stars Melusi Mnqobi Molefe and Qondiswa James. Ghoema: Rediscovering The Journey Of Me is a deeply personal and evocative musical journey that celebrates identity, heritage, and the sounds that shape us. More than a performance, it’s an exploration of belonging, resilience, and self-discovery performed by MNIX (Merna Nicholls). It will show at the Alliance Française on 12 (19h30) and 13 August (18h30).
*Concert of the Birds is the title of a painting by Frans Snyders from the 16th Century and is at the centre of a mutli-layered programme at the Iziko Old Town House Museum. Curators of the Reflections exhibition will unpack its significance before a veritable “concert” of singers from UCT Opera will fill the silence surrounding this striking work. 9 August 12h00.
*Comedy in Common will present one of their legendary stand-up comedy programmes at the HUB Gallery operated by the Spier Arts Trust on Saturday 8 August at 19h30.
The HEAT Festival runs from 6 – 15 August 2026. Visit www.heatfestival.org for more information
IMAGES: HEAT Winter Arts Festival
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