Iziko Museums of South Africa looks forward to presenting the exhibition Steven Cohen: Long Life, a major retrospective showcasing forty years of pioneering work by the internationally recognised South African artist Steven Cohen.

The exhibition will take place at the Iziko South African National Gallery, located in the historic Company’s Garden, Cape Town, from 12 December 2025 to 30 June 2026.

This exhibition offers an unprecedented look at Cohen’s artistic career, which has shaped the discourse of performance art in South Africa, France, and beyond. Known for his fearless exploration of identity, politics, and belonging, Cohen’s work interrogates themes of sexuality, spirituality, race, freedom, ethics, memory and love. While engaging with universal themes, Cohen’s work is always rooted in deeply personal narratives of love, loss and resilience.

The title, Long Life, is a phrase of condolence in Jewish custom, one that honours those who have passed while offering hope and affirming that to live is a blessing. This sentiment resonates throughout Cohen’s works. Above all, Long Life is about compassion and indignation, belonging and loneliness, and the connections with others that make life worth living.

Made up of installations, performance documentation, objects, images, films and ephemera, the exhibition offers a loosely chronological survey of Cohen’s life and work, coalescing around key relationships in the artist’s life.

From textile-based works from the late 1980s, to documentation of Cohen s uninvited public interventions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, to more recent performances conceived for the stage, the exhibition represents the breadth of a profoundly influential career.

The exhibition is curated by Dr Anthea Buys, an independent curator, writer and researcher based in South Africa.

Steven Cohen: Long Life is made possible through the support of the Iziko Museums of South Africa (South Africa), the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and Institut Francais in Paris, Stevenson (South Africa/Netherlands), as well as private donors.

The exhibition will be complemented by an inclusive public programme featuring:

• Youth-focused educational initiatives
• Artist-led workshops
• Curated walkabouts and discussions

These activities aim to foster dialogue, inspire creativity, and broaden access to contemporary art for diverse audiences. Programme details will be revealed online via the website and social media platforms of Iziko Museums.

Notes to Editors

About Steven Cohen:

Steven Cohen was born in 1962 in South Africa – he now lives in France.

Performer, choreographer and visual artist, he has orchestrated interventions in public places, in art galleries and on stages, notably for seven editions of the Festival d’Automne at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, at the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival, National Arts Festival in Makhanda, Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris, Montpellier Danse, Festival d’Avignon, the Munich Opera Festival at the Bavarian State Opera, the Escena Contemporánea Festival in Madrid, the Bozar in Brussels, the Oktoberdans festival in Bergen and the Canadian Stage in Toronto, amongst other venues. He has participated in residencies at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and the Center for Performance Research in New York. From 2003 to 2008, Cohen was an associated artist of the Ballet Atlantique/Régine Chopinot in La Rochelle, France. He is presently an associate artist at the National Theatre of Brittany.

Cohen’s work brings to light that which lies on the margins of society, beginning with his own identity as a gay, Jewish, white, South African man. The staging of his body is influenced by his own story and history and constitutes a means of exploring the flaws and grace of humanity.

His ultra-sophisticated makeup is as elegant as it is surprising. His eccentric costumes, intense and ethereal at the same time, borrow from the world of luxury and elegance, from archaic rituals, from a bourgeois or colonial past as well as diverse queer inspirations. They reveal more than they hide and restrict the body and the movement, as if to simultaneously mark both the weight of the world and the restraining force different powers exert on the body.

About Viewer Discretion: Viewer discretion will be advised. The forthcoming exhibition at the Iziko South African National Gallery will feature works that explore sensitive and provocative themes, including identity, politics, sexuality, and historical trauma. Presented in the spirit of freedom of expression enshrined in South Africa’s Constitution, the exhibition will aim to inspire reflection, dialogue, and debate rather than offend. Visitors will be encouraged to engage critically and respectfully with the artworks, recognising art’s role in fostering diverse perspectives. Parents and guardians will be asked to exercise discretion when accompanying minors. Iziko Museums remain committed to inclusivity, dialogue, and artistic freedom.

About Iziko Museums of South Africa (Iziko Museums)

Iziko Museums of South Africa is a public entity of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and operates 12 national museums, the Planetarium and Digital Dome, the Social History Centre and three collection-specific libraries in Cape Town, South Africa. The museums that make up Iziko have their own history and character, presenting extensive art, social and natural history collections that reflect our diverse cultural heritage.

Visit our webpage at www.iziko.org.za, join our online community on Facebook (www.facebook.com/IzikoMuseums), Instagram (@izikomuseumssa) or follow us on X (@Iziko_Museums) for regular updates on events, news and new exhibitions

On behalf of the Office of the CEO, Iziko Museums of South Africa
Melody Kleinsmith, Marketing and Communications Manager, Iziko Museums of South Africa

E-mail: mkleinsmith@iziko.org.za | Cell: 073 107 4955

Zikhona Jafta
zjafta@iziko.org.za
021 481 3800
Iziko Museums of South Africa
http://www.iziko.org.za