There are very few galleries that consistently trust visitors to think deeply, sit with discomfort and leave asking more questions than they arrived with. The Johannesburg Contemporary Art Foundation has become one of those rare spaces. Every exhibition feels meticulously considered, and Reverse Futures, the final instalment of its Worldmaking trilogy, continues that tradition with confidence.
Rather than imagining the future through the familiar lens of flying cars, artificial intelligence or Hollywood-style apocalypses, Reverse Futures asks a far more interesting question: whose future are we talking about?
The exhibition argues that for much of the Global South, the future cannot be separated from the histories of colonialism, migration, environmental exploitation and inequality that continue to shape everyday life. It is a powerful curatorial premise that unfolds through works exploring memory, technology, ecology, displacement and Indigenous knowledge, constantly reminding visitors that the future is something we are already living into.
While every artwork contributes meaningfully to the exhibition, three pieces stayed with me long after I left.
Event Horizon
Kamil Adam Hassim’s Event Horizon (2026) was unlike anything I have experienced before. The installation recreates the absolute darkness and silence of a moonless night in the Karoo, stripping away the sensory overload that defines modern life. Walking through the work felt almost meditative. The absence of light, sound, and even the invisible signals we rarely think about (Wi-Fi, radio waves, and cellular networks) forced me to become aware of my own body in a completely different way.
Knowing that the installation also functions as a detector for cosmic muon particles adds another layer of wonder. It is a work about science, but equally about Indigenous knowledge, perception and humanity’s relationship with the universe. It was both humbling and quietly profound.
Concrete Jasmine
Georgia Munnik’s Concrete Jasmine (2026) surprised me in an entirely different way. It was my first encounter with an artwork created by an olfactory artist, and I was fascinated by how scent could become the primary medium for storytelling. Having lived in Johannesburg my entire life, I recognised the smell almost immediately. The combination of jasmine and damp concrete captured something deeply familiar about the city, its beauty existing alongside decay, its resilience flourishing in difficult conditions.
It felt less like smelling an artwork and more like inhaling a memory. The accompanying sculptural forms, made from both natural and industrial remnants, reinforced that tension between growth and deterioration that defines so much of Johannesburg.
Refugee Astronaut X (2024)
The final work that resonated with me was Yinka Shonibare’s Refugee Astronaut X (2024). At first glance, the colourful astronaut appears almost playful, but the longer I spent with the sculpture, the heavier its message became. The figure is searching for another habitable world while carrying only a small collection of personal belongings.
It prompted an unsettling question: if humanity were forced to abandon Earth, what would we choose to take with us? More importantly, would we also carry with us the same inequalities, systems of exploitation and colonial thinking that have shaped our history? The work transforms a science-fiction scenario into a deeply human reflection on migration, belonging and survival.
Art in action
One of the exhibition’s greatest strengths is its ability to make complex ideas accessible without simplifying them. Themes of technology, empire, ecology and historical memory are presented through immersive, sensory experiences that invite emotional as well as intellectual engagement. Whether moving through darkness, following scent or standing before an astronaut carrying the weight of humanity’s future, visitors become active participants in the exhibition rather than passive observers.
What I continue to admire about JCAF is the care with which its exhibitions are assembled. Nothing feels accidental. Every artwork speaks to another, every room builds upon the last, and the overall experience is thoughtful without ever becoming didactic.
Reverse Futures does not pretend to have answers about what lies ahead. Instead, it offers something far more valuable: a space to question the assumptions that shape our understanding of progress and to imagine futures rooted in justice, memory and diverse ways of knowing.
It is a fitting conclusion to the Worldmaking trilogy and further cements JCAF’s reputation as one of Johannesburg’s most intellectually rewarding contemporary art institutions. I left inspired, challenged and reminded that the most compelling visions of the future may not come from science fiction at all, but from artists asking us to see the present differently.
JCAF’s exhibitions are free to visit, you simply need to book via their website.
