A Conversation with Art Curator Beata America

Beata America is a Cape Town-based assistant curator at Zeitz MOCAA and co-founder of the wine collective Processus, which she established in 2020 alongside her wife, winemaker Megan van der Merwe. Originally trained as a classical musician, she has transitioned from the rigors of the conservatorium to the white walls of the museum, bringing that same relentless work ethic to a new kind of storytelling.

In this conversation, we trace her journey from the piano to the museum floor, unpacking the collaborative nature of curating exhibitions for artists like Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn and Rita Mawuena Benissan. We also dive into the "rebellion" of independent art spaces and her mission with Processus to bridge the gap between fine art and wine.

By Khaya Mnisi

Portrait of Beata America. Image courtesy of Beata America

Khaya: What sparked your journey into the art world, and was creativity part of your upbringing?

Beata: I’ve always been creative and curious by nature. Both of my parents were musicians when they were young and really wanted my sister and I to pick it up. So, since I was about 5, I began playing piano, and the guitar when I was 13, and really threw myself into music from a very young age.

After high school, it was a natural progression for me to then study Classical music, so I pursued a Diploma in Classical music at Stellenbosch University. During my time at university, I had a lot of visual artist friends and naturally became curious about other forms of art practice. Because I had done music for majority of my life, once I graduated from the Conservatorium I really wanted to explore other things I might be good at, writing and visual studies were two of those avenues that really drew me in.

Khaya: Do you feel that the discipline and structure of your classical music training affects the way you curate today?

Beata: Yeah, I guess in some ways. When I was studying music, we had to practice a minimum of six hours a day and be diligent about it. My work ethic has stayed consistent with that, so I would say so, but they are two very different practices. It affects my overall work ethic, but not so much my day-to-day practice.

Khaya: So, was there a reason why you stopped playing the piano?

Beata: Umm, I didn’t stop! I just stopped doing it professionally because it was one of those things where, when you do something your entire life, something I've been doing since I was basically five, I had no idea if I was good at anything else. I never really had the opportunity to try anything else, you know?

Once I graduated, it was almost a form of rebellion for me to try something completely different and let the music go for a little bit so I could create some distance. And now, with a couple of years that have gone by, I actually miss it because I haven't had a chance to do it in a while. It’s become something that I look forward to doing again, instead of something that constantly feels like a "job."

Khaya: When I was absorbing your instagram page I noticed that even itself seems like a curatorial project of your life and I find that interesting, like do you make sure that every place you enter you curate, does your work bleed into other parts of your life?

Beata: That’s interesting…I guess yes and no. When I was in my early 20s my dad passed down to me the first film camera he bought as a young student. A Pentax K1000. This camera documented my entire childhood, and it soon became the most precious thing I owned. I picked up film photography as a hobby, just like my dad did, and ran with it. I’m not great by any means, but I like to document my life and more recently artists I meet, and countries I’m able to visit through my work. It’s not necessarily an intentional intervention of my social media presence, just an organic expression of who I am.

Khaya: Let’s talk about your work now in art curation. For anyone looking at it from the outside, could you help us unpack what a curator actually does?

Beata: I think there are different facets of curatorial work. For me, at its core, a curator is someone who can critically engage with objects or artworks to tell a meaningful story.

Khaya: Speaking of meaningful stories, is there one you’ve told through an exhibition that has really stayed with you? One where you look back and think, "Wow, that was a defining moment for me"?

Beata: I think Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn’s solo exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA titled The Other Side of Now was a significant exhibition for me. The exhibition explored the transnational entanglements created by colonisation and war, told through the erased voices of Vietnamese, Senegalese and Moroccan history. It was my first project as lead curator and an to have the opportunity to work with such an open, thoughtful and kind artist like Tuấn was invaluable. I learnt so much working on that exhibition, that is forever baked into my foundations as a curator.

Exhibition opening for The Other Side of Now. Photography by Ramiie G, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA.

Khaya: And what is it that you love about what you do?

Beata: There are so many different facets to curating that I love. But I think the moments that I really love is being able to collaborate, discuss and critically engage with artists and other art practitioners. Curating is a team sport.

Khaya: Can you take us through your process of curating an exhibition?

Beata: At Zeitz MOCAA we spend quite a bit of time researching before the opening of our exhibitions. The curators often travel to the artist’s studios, wherever in the world they may be, to learn about them and their practice in their home environment. From there it’s a super collaborative process. The artist then comes to visit us on site in Cape Town where we start to establish a curatorial framework for the exhibition, identifying possible artworks and playing with the exhibition design. Then comes working on the subsequent exhibition publication to memorialize the exhibition and further engage with the works.

Photography by Mad Little Badger, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA.

Khaya: I’d love to hear more about the curation process behind the solo exhibition, One Must Be Seated. How did that come together?

Beata: One Must Be Seated was a solo exhibition for Rita Mawuena Benissan, a Ghanaian American artist. We actually just recently held a symposium for Rita and that exhibition, which was quite an important milestone for her as an artist because it was her first museum show. It focused on the Akan chieftaincy, which is really at the crux of her practice.

What also grew out of that exhibition was a beautiful atrium commission. Rita created the largest tapestry and the largest atrium commission for Zeitz MOCAA to date. It followed the themes the exhibition was exploring, but the atrium work—titled The Procession—focused more specifically on the event of processions in Ghana. The atrium commission was also launched at the event of her symposium and book launch.

One Must Be Seated symposium. Photography by Ramiie G, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA.

Installation image of One Must Be Seated. Photograph by Dillon Marsh, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA

One Must Be Seated publication. Photography by Slater Studios, courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA

Khaya: I know this is a loaded question [laughs], but what are the things you like and don’t like about the art market and the art scene lately? Is there anything you’ve come across recently that actually gives you a bit of hope?

Beata: Yeah, it is quite a loaded question [laughs]. Of course, funding for the arts in general is a big one. It would be amazing if that support could be there across the board – arts education, grants for artists and projects etc.

I’m encouraged by more artists and practitioners building their own independent, kind of rogue, "rebellion" spaces [laughs]. Like Under Projects—which was short-lived, but still —I’d love to see more people in the arts forging their own spaces that don't necessarily need institutional backing. It’s inspiring to see artists creating their own opportunities when so few already exist. That gives me a bit of hope.

On a different note, the connection between wine and art is also becoming clearer through some of the independent natural wine producers collaborating with artist spaces in more intentional ways.

Khaya: On a more personal note- since you spend all day surrounded by these incredible works of art- have you started a collection of your own?

Beata: I have a very tiny, very "baby" art collection [laughs]. I try, but like we were saying earlier, it’s incredibly difficult to get into the art market. It’s very expensive to own art. But yeah, I try to go to studio sales, visit artists in their spaces, and support where I can. I’m trying to start the collection early, but I’m not going to lie, it’s difficult.

Khaya: Are there any individuals, past or present, who have made a significant impact on your perspective or approach to your curatorial work and what is it about them that resonates with you?

Beata: Of course, Koyo Kouoh is at the top of that list for me. She’s a force in the industry, that’s undeniable, but on a personal level she was a real mentor for me. I am so lucky to have had worked with her closely for four years and developed a relationship that really broadened my way of thinking and approach to curatorial work.

Khaya: I want to talk about Processus, the project you co-founded with your partner, winemaker Megan van der Merwe. What was the original inspiration there? I’m particularly interested in your goal of changing how we “consume and understand wine” in an exhibition space—how have you actually gone about achieving that so far?

Beata: Processus was birthed out of a need to engage with wine differently. Whenever Megan came with me to exhibition openings, we’d notice that while wine is a huge part of art events, there’s a clear disconnect in how people engage with it. Often, there’s no real interest in what’s being poured or who made it.

Processus is the nexus between wine and art, the middle of that Venn diagram. There is so much that can be said for the intricate, laborious process of winemaking. For Processus we frame the project as a collective and not a brand. We focus on minority grape varieties in South Africa that often get blended away and forgotten. The hope is that one day we will be able to put on a sensorial exhibition that highlights each variety and culminates in a tasting. A project that we have not been able to complete yet but is definitely in the books for the near future.

Khaya: You mentioned the Maria Gomes and the Colombar -those aren't exactly the big, famous South African varieties we usually see. What made you and Megan decide to lead with these specific grapes?

Beata: So, the Maria Gomes, which is also called Fernão Pires, there’s only two blocks of it in the country actually so we get it from the one block, and it’s a very very tiny production. This variety - Maria Gomes -usually gets blended away into white blends and we just felt like it was a shame. The farmer hadn’t even ever got to taste the wine on its own as a single variety, so we thought it would be a really nice opportunity to highlight the grape in a way that it doesn't often get presented and has an interesting story to tell. It's not something that you would also find in a South African wine context, which is also what intrigued us.

Khaya: Wow, I am so impressed by the work you do and what you’ve really achieved—you work at Zeitz MOCAA, the best museum in Cape Town, and you’re a wine producer too! [laughs] It’s so impressive.

Beata: Well, I mean, I’m very tired [laughs]. I have to give my partner all of the flowers, all of the credit, because she’s in the cellar majority of the time making sure the wines are okay. She usually focuses on everything inside the bottle, and I focus on everything outside of it. So we do things definitely in partnership; I am not alone in making Processus happen at all, by any means.

Khaya: Looking ahead, what’s next for Beata?

Beata: Well, I just curated the Cabinet/Record section at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2026. A really amazing project which focused on photography works. At Zeitz MOCAA, I’m constantly working on different types of projects that are in the pipeline over the coming years. But one thing that is top of mind is we are working on Zohra Opoku’s publication for We Proceed in the Footsteps of the Sunlight, which will be launched later this year at a symposium that will critically engage with the exhibition. And for Processus, we’re in the middle of harvest, putting the 2026 vintage together. We’re also working on releasing our first red wine later this year, so lots to look forward to!

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