Joburg is always changing and with the turbulence of Covid lockdowns finally behind us there are plenty of exciting new openings, and reopenings, to look forward to in the coming months. Here’s the lowdown on five of the best.
The Test Kitchen Carbon opens
In spring of 2021 top Cape Town chef Luke Dale Roberts launched his first permanent Joburg restaurant, The Shortmarket Club in Rosebank. On March 14 his second Joburg restaurant, The Test Kitchen Carbon, officially opens, also based in Rosebank’s Oxford Parks Precinct. The Test Kitchen in Cape Town (now closed) became one of South Africa’s most awarded restaurants and expectations for this Joburg version are understandably high! Bookings for tables are already open at thetestkitchencarbon.co.za.
Apartheid Museum to reopen
In March 2020 when South Africa experienced its first ever pandemic lockdown, Joburg’s Apartheid Museum closed its doors citing the financial challenges of South Africa’s lack of international tourists as a major barrier to operations. The museum briefly reopened in September 2020, before swiftly closing again to wait for the Covid pandemic to subside and borders to open. It’s been a long wait, but finally the Apartheid Museum will officially reopen to the public on April 1, 2022.
DSTV Delicious Festival is back
One of Joburg’s biggest music festivals, DSTV Delicious, officially returns this year, on Heritage Day weekend (September 24 and 25). The location and lineup for the festival are still to be announced but pre-registration to buy tickets for the festival is already open online (register here). Early birds who pre-register will have access to discounted tickets at R550 (full-price tickets are currently set at R770).
Braamfontein’s new park
The official opening date is still not set, although it looks likely that in the coming months Joburg’s newest park will open in the heart of Braamfontein. The owner and developer of the park is the insurance firm Liberty Group who consulted with local artists, including James Delaney and the late Andrew Lindsay, to reimagine the previously unused space in front of their Braamfontein headquarters. Designed as a public space that can be used day and night, the park includes new public artworks and innovative lighting installations that are a major feature of the space.
Keiskamma Art Project retrospective
Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the signing of South Africa’s democratic constitution, in September Constitution Hill hosts an enormous retrospective exhibition showcasing the many works produced by the Keiskamma Art Project over the past 20 years. The exhibition, titled Death and Resurrection, was made possible via a popular crowd-funding campaign and will feature many of this inspiring art collective’s largest and most powerful tapestries that relate the recent histories of South Africa, and particularly the Eastern Cape. The exhibition officially opens Sep 24, 2022.