Art
Miami Art Week | Art Basel Miami Beach
As always, Art Basel is awash with significant works by major contemporary artists from more than 280 international art galleries — and pop-ups across town, like US artist Alex Prager’s immersive transformation of a historic movie theatre into the Mirage Factory. Some of the must-see booths are those of Erin Cluley Gallery, with a selection of Nic Nicosia’s photographs; Uffner & Liu, with works by Reginald Madison and Anne Buckwalter; and Jessica Silverman, showcasing Woody De Othello’s anthropomorphic sculptures.
Dates: December 5-7
Venue: Miami Beach Convention Center
Tickets: From $88
Miami Art Week | Design Miami
A showcase of collectible avant-garde work, Design Miami returns to the city for its 20th iteration with the theme “Make. Believe”, with curator Glenn Adamson having picked a handful of designers who will present capsule collections of their imaginative practices. More than 70 exhibitors are taking part.
Dates: December 3-7
Venue: Pride Park, South Beach, Miami
Tickets: From $41
Don’t miss:
- Mary Sibande & Palesa Mokubung’s “Sophie’s Closet” collaboration at Everard Read Joburg until 12 December
- Gabrielle Goliath’s “Berenice” show at Goodman Gallery New York until December 19.
- William Kentridge’s “The Pull of Gravity” exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK, until April 19 2026.
- Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi’s solo exhibition “The Master’s Unexplored Library” from December 10-31 at Everard Read Cape Town.
- The Printing Girls’ group show “Marks We Keep” at Gallery 2 in Joburg, until December 20.
- “Gathering Fragments” group show at Goodman Gallery Cape Town from November 23, featuring Ghada Amer, El Anatsui, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Leonardo Drew, Remy Jungerman, William Kentridge, Kapwani Kiwanga, Atta Kwami, and Hank Willis Thomas
- Shany van den Berg’s “A Place to Bloom” solo show at Everard Read London until December 13.
- Hannah Macfarlane and Amber Alcock’s “Try a Little Tenderness” & Aimee Lindeque’s “Do You Know the Place?” solo show at AVA, Cape Town, until January 15.
In lights
Durban Botanic Gardens Trail of Lights
Sparkling light displays along nighttime paths promise to light up trees, festive scenes, and the newly opened Tropical Display House, with gourmet food stalls, ziplines, the actual Father Christmas, and selfie shots with an equally actual polar bear. On 10 December’s Paws and Claus Night, dogs are welcome too.
Dates: December 5-7, 10-24, 26-30 and January 1-3
Venue: Durban Botanic Gardens, Berea
Tickets: From R85
durbanbotanicgardens.org.za / webtickets.co.za
Joburg Zoo Festival of Lights
Take a tranquil walk among life-size illuminated animals and twinkling trees, away from the animals. Also, live entertainment, food and craft markets, and all-round good vibes.
Dates: Until January 4
Venue: Joburg Zoo, Parkview
Tickets: From R75
joburgtheatre.com / webtickets.co.za
Film
The Galileo Open Air Cinema
Picnic under the stars, with the stars — the Galileo Open Air Cinema experience takes place at venues across the Western Cape, including Kirstenbosch Garden, various wine farms, and Battery Park at the V&A Waterfront. Included in the lineup are such modern classics as A Star Is Born, Love Actually, The Italian Job, Home Alone and The Holdovers.
Dates: December-May
Venues: Across the Western Cape
Tickets: From R155
thegalileo.co.za / webtickets.co.za
Opera
Arabella | Strauss
This new Met Opera production of Strauss’s elegant romance is being screened in SA as part of “The 18th Met: Live in HD” series. Rachel Willis-Sørensen is a young noblewoman in search of love, Louise Alder is her sister, and Tomasz Konieczny is the dashing count.
Dates: December 7 and 9
Venues: Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor cinemas
Andrea Chénier | Giordano
In another Met Opera production, Piotr Beczała gives voice to Giordano’s poet who falls foul of a hardliner during France’s Reign of Terror. Sonya Yoncheva is his aristocratic lover, and Igor Golovatenko is the agent who seals their fates.
Dates: December 13 (livestream at V&A Waterfront), January 4 and 6
Venues: Cinema Nouveau and select Ster-Kinekor cinemas
Music
Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts
Among the popular musicians taking part this month in Kirstenbosch’s Summer Sunset Concerts are Karen Zoid & Francois van Coke; Bongeziwe Mabandla & Matthew Field; The Kiffness; and Mango Groove.
Dates: Every Sunday + New Year’s Eve
Venue: Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Rondebosch
Tickets: R255-R540
sanbi.org/events / webtickets.co.za
Babyface | All White Soul Sessions Concert
The 13-time Grammy winner, R&B singer, and much-lauded music producer Babyface is performing in SA for two nights.
Dates: December 12 and 13
Venue: SunBet Arena, Pretoria
Tickets: R950-R2,850
Voices of Home
Internationally acclaimed conductor Marin Alsop joins forces with South African cellist Abel Selaocoe and master percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger in Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra’s tour debut of Selaocoe’s Four Spirits Cello Concerto, paired with Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Not to be missed.
Joburg: Linder Auditorium, December 10 and 11
Durban: Playhouse Opera Theatre, December 13
Cape Town: Cape Town City Hall, December 16
Tickets: From R200
Lawn Pavilion Lounge | Dj Bob Jazz Club
The Lawn Pavilion Lounge at Nirox Sculpture Park, in the Cradle of Mankind, ends the year with the best vinyl selections by DJ Bob Jazz Club, of Manchester, and Johannesburg favourite Mxolisi Makhubo.
Date: December 14
Venue: Nirox Sculpture Park
Tickets: From R200
Theatre
Afropocalypse
Afropocalypse is a new SA production, directed by Daniel Buckland and workshopped by the Market Theatre Laboratory students, that won a Gold Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival. The play is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and follows a community of travelling players.
Dates: Until December 7
Venue: Market Theatre, Newtown, Joburg
Tickets: R110-R220
