From 1 November 2026, visitors can experience We Are What Remains, a new immersive exhibition at !Khwa ttu San Culture & Education Centre in Yzerfontein.
Blending art and technology, this unique exhibition transforms a remarkable collection of !Xun and Khwe linocut artworks into a multi-sensory experience featuring animation, projection mapping, spatial sound and sculptural installations. As images come to life through light and movement, these elements offer new ways to engage with the artworks and the histories, memories and San cosmologies they reflect. We Are What Remains honours not only what has been lost, but also what has survived.
At the heart of the exhibition are powerful linocuts, prints made by carving designs into linoleum and transferring them onto paper, created by !Xun and Khwe artists during the 1990s and 2000s. These artworks emerged from an arts project established at Schmidtsdrift after members of the two communities were relocated from Namibia and Angola to South Africa. Through their own style, the artists documented personal and collective experiences of war, displacement, community, and longing for home.
Created by South African creative company Open Draft in collaboration with !Khwa ttu and seven of the original artists, We Are What Remains offers an unforgettable opportunity to encounter these stories in a completely new way. Through immersive technologies and interactive visual experiences, the exhibition bridges past and present while celebrating the enduring creativity and knowledge of the artists behind the works.
Make it part of your next West Coast outing and experience the installation in person:
– Dates: 1 November 2026 to October 2027
– Venue: !Khwa ttu San Culture & Education Centre, Yzerfontein, Western Cape
– Museum entry: R130
Follow the !Khwa ttu San Culture & Education Centre on Facebook and Open Draft on Instagram for updates.
Learn more about We Are What Remains on the Futures_Past website.
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We Are What Remains is the third of six exhibitions developed through Futures_Past: Amplifying Memory with Immersive Technologies. Futures_Past is a two-year regional programme initiated by the Embassy of France in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS), implemented in partnership with Electric South and funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
Across the three countries, the programme brings creative practitioners and archival institutions together to create new public encounters with historical collections. Through virtual and augmented reality, spatial audio, interactive installations and projection mapping, six participating teams are developing works that make archival material accessible in new forms. The programme also includes research on the immersive arts sector in Southern Africa and professional exchanges between practitioners from the region and France.
Photo: Behind-the-scenes image of We Are What Remains at the !Khwa ttu San Culture & Education Centre in Yzerfontein. Credit: © Umhambi DigitalÂ
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