San Francisco is about to meet one of the most famous apartment buildings on Earth. On January 23, 2027, SFMOMA opens Ponte City: Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse on Floor 3 — the first presentation in the United States of a beloved, kaleidoscopic portrait of Ponte City, the iconic 54-story residential tower in Johannesburg, South Africa.
From 2008 to 2014, South African artist Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse returned to the tower again and again, photographing its residents, its windows and doors, and the everyday life unfolding inside a building shaped by South Africa’s complex political and social histories. They also gathered the traces people left behind, building an archive of more than 1,400 photographs and pieces of ephemera that is now part of SFMOMA’s own collection. In the galleries, that archive becomes an immersive environment, layering image upon image until a single building opens into hundreds of human stories.
Joyful, surprising and deeply humane, Ponte City invites San Francisco visitors to think about housing, migration and the ever-evolving lives of buildings — including our own towers at home. It runs through August 22, 2027, and it is a wonderful winter plan: one landmark, seen lovingly from the inside out.
Photo: Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse, courtesy SFMOMA
