Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) presents One Must Be Seated, a solo exhibition by Ghanaian-American artist Rita Mawuena Benissan. 

Deeply rooted within her Ghanaian culture, Benissan’s practice has particular focus on the reimagining of the royal umbrella and stool, symbols of Akan chieftaincy. The exhibition explores the enstoolment of a prospective chief, akin to coronation; a call to take their rightful seat in the stool that has been chosen for them. The exhibition opens Wednesday, 13 November 2024 on Level 3, Silo Side of the museum, and runs until 5 October 2025.  

Through tapestry, sculpture, photography and video, Benissan’s work highlights and celebrates the rich traditions of Ghanaian culture, with a focus on Asante customs. The royal umbrella has been used since at least the 17th century, it transforms the individual underneath it, attributing significant status. Different sizes, colours, and unique gold totems that crown the umbrella canopy are seen as they move with the court in lively procession. Under the umbrella, the chief and his thoughts are hidden from the heavens above, prohibiting even God from accessing them.  

Benissan delicately reimagines this cultural object through the use of the archive. As we see in works like The Triumphant King Rules (?hene a wadi Nkonim No Di Tumi) (2023) portraits of past chiefs are embedded within the fabric of the umbrella which is traditionally made with woven Kente cloth and reinterpreted in rich velvet by the artist. Her works are made by the same craftsmen who make the royal umbrellas for the palace in Kumasi, the Asante capital. By intentionally naming these artisans as collaborators, the artist honours the hands that uphold the traditions of the chieftaincy. 

The exhibition layout simulates the enstoolment tradition with each successive gallery symbolising a stage in the process. Prompted by the new film, One Must Be Seated (2024), from which the exhibition takes its title, you are invited to be nominated and confronted by the ancestors. “Have you not seen the seat that we made for you? You were made to be seated.” Walking through, one passes the palace at dusk, depicted in an intricately woven tapestry, We Process at Sunrise (2024); receives a powerful affirmation of growth and renewal in the green shades of We Give Power to You (2024), another umbrella work; and is ultimately led to the final golden throne. It will embrace its chosen, sealing the bond between leader and legacy. When the time comes, will you be open to receive the call?

One Must Be Seated forms part of an ongoing series of in-depth, research-based solo exhibitions by Zeitz MOCAA that bring into focus and contextualise the practices of important artists from Africa and the Diaspora, and those whose work focuses on seminal topics in the African present. 

Zeitz MOCAA’s exhibition and curatorial programming is generously supported by Gucci, the Mellon Foundation, and BMW South Africa.

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Mapping Klee is a series of podcasts by Zentrum Paul Klee about the artist’s journeys.
Paul Klee’s extraordinary pictorial worlds are the result of a complex artistic development. He was the recipient of forceful epiphanies during his travels, some of which he was only able to incorporate into his work years later. These were experiences with a long-lasting impact. Five such journeys will provide insights into Klee’s artistic development: from being a student full of doubts to one of the most important modern artists. But what makes his art so unique?
Paul Klee documented his impressions in diaries, postcards, as well as numerous letters, most of which were to his future wife Lili Stumpf in Munich, his parents in Bern and his son Felix Klee.

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Ausstellungen mit Werken von Paul Klee (1879-1940) und weiterer bedeutender moderner und zeitgenössischer Künstlerinnen und Künstler sowie Konzerte, Lesungen, Führungen und mehr.

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Zentrum Paul Klee

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