The Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture is a collaboration between NIROX Foundation and the Claire & Edoardo Villa Will Trust. As an artist residency and sculpture park, NIROX provides artists working at the Centre with full board and lodging, as well as access to staff, peripheral programming, and their broader facilities. NIROX’s residency programme accommodates up to three practitioners at a time, from different fields and walks of life, enabling the cross-pollination of ideas which extends to visiting curators, lecturers, collectors, gallerists, and specialists unique to the region’s cultural and scientific ecosystem. The Villa Will Trust in turn provides space and resources that enable artists to develop their practice through the research, production, and exhibition of their work. In return, resident artists are expected to facilitate and participate in public programmes such as talks or workshops with students or other practising artists geared towards the exchange of knowledge and the study of art, and sculpture in particular.

CURRENT

Jeremy Wafer

Working across sculpture, photography, video and drawing, Wafer’s practice over the past four decades has explored the politics and poetics of place, engaging questions of land, territory, and the histories of possession and dispossession that shape South Africa’s social and political landscape.

In recent work, he has focused on material processes that allow works to shift and evolve over time. Through these approaches, Wafer reflects on themes of fragility, displacement, and uncertainty, while leaving space for viewers to form their own interpretations.

Wafer’s residency will culminate in a solo exhibition at the Villa-Legodi Centre for Sculpture, opening on 18 April as part of the closing events for the Soil & Water programme, curated by Johan Thom and Basak Senova.

His residency and exhibition are supported by the Claire & Edoardo Villa Will Trust.

  • "My time at the Villa-Legodi/NIROX has been a highlight of my working life as an artist. I really felt supported and appreciated. The facilities for living and working are beyond excellent, the beautiful environment conducive to an unhurried focus on new ideas and just being able to spend time with developing artwork. [...] One learns about ones artwork by being able to spend time with it, to be able to come into the studio each morning and just look, think and contemplate, to reconsider, to take risks, to make a hash of things, or to discover something unintended."

    — Jeremy Wafer, 2023

  • "It was an exceptional residency, not only for what we learnt and unlearnt, but for what it set in motion."

    – Diana Vives and Douglas Gimberg, 2024/25

  • "Having access to so many tools encourages play and possibility. The increased budgetary support allows for new ideas to flow and possibilities to emerge. It gave me the confidence to experiment without immediate result and not feel obliged to reach the end point of an idea. So much that I learnt or touched on at Nirox will play on in my practice for years to come.... and THAT is the most extraordinary gift. It feels like being back at university with all the tools at your disposal, but at a time when one has the maturity and insight into ones own creative cycle, to know what to do with it. It is one of a kind."

    – elize vossgätter, 2025

  • "The experience of working away from my studio prompted unique responses, challenging me to look at things a little differently. The sculptures I made reflected this."

    – Serge Alain Nitegeka, 2023

  • "I pushed the boundaries of my practice in almost every way. Quartz is the hardest and most hazardous stone to sculpt, and it accounted for most of what I did. The video work went to show at Javett UP for over a year in their screening room and the stone on canvas works went into galleries in Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Abu Dhabi."

    – Abdus Salaam, 2024

  • " I think the workshop at Villa-Legodi and the library is very special. It is fantastic to draw from all those texts and also to work in a beautiful setting with a workshop surrounded by nature. That experience will stay with me forever. I always think of Villa-Legodi and NIROX as my 'Happy place'. Having the residency accommodation close to the Villa- Legodi meant that the walk in nature, to and from the residency to Villa-Legodi, really contributed to the inspiring feeling of the residency."

    – Sophia van Wyk, 2024

Robin Rhode

Robin Rhode
Atang Tshikare

Atang Tshikare
Elize Vossgätter

Elize Vossgätter
Diana Vives

Diana Vives
Douglas Gimberg

Douglas Gimberg
Sophia van Wyk

Sophia van Wyk
Dada Khanyisa

Dada Khanyisa
Xwalacktun

Xwalacktun
Abdus Salaam

Abdus Salaam
Sean Blem

Sean Blem
Serge Alain Nitegeka

Serge Alain Nitegeka
Gabriele Jacobs

Gabriele Jacobs
Stefanie Koemeda

Stefanie Koemeda
Farieda Nazier

Farieda Nazier
Jeremy Wafer

Jeremy Wafer
Richard John Forbes

Richard John Forbes
Inga Somdyala

Inga Somdyala
Walter Oltmann

Walter Oltmann
Catherine Ash

Catherine Ash
Driaan Claassen

Driaan Claassen
Lawrence Lemaoana

Lawrence Lemaoana
Mary Sibande

Mary Sibande
Noria Mabasa

Noria Mabasa
Ben Tuge

Ben Tuge
Richard Chauke

Richard Chauke
Amorous Maswanganyi

Amorous Maswanganyi
Collen Maswanganyi

Collen Maswanganyi

Workshop

Resident artists are able to make use of the Villa-Legodi Centre’ for Sculpture’s workshop, both to create their own work and facilitate workshops for students.

The workshop is equipped with a wide range of tools, which can be viewed by clicking the drop-down on the right. Artists and students wishing to use the Workshop, be it for a day or as part of their residency, must complete a form detailing their name, which tools they would like to use, and what they would like to use them for. The form can be downloaded here and submitted along with your application here. Should you require any tools that are not listed, please let us know. We intend to learn and expand the Workshop based on your feedback.

  • Table saw

    Band saw

    Horizontal bandsaw

    Mitre saw

    Planer thicknesser

    Drill press

    Dust extraction

    Belt sander

    Compressor

    Mig welder

  • Orbital sander (150mm)
    Finger sander (6–30mm)
    Drill (13mm chuck)
    Dust extraction
    Circular saw (165–235mm)
    delta sander
    Bench grinder
    Arc welder (200A)
    Plasma cutter
    grinder (115mm)
    grinder (230mm)
    Router (1/4 and 1/2)
    Dremel

  • Charger
    Batteries
    Drill (13mm)
    Drill
    Recipracationg saw
    Orbital sander (125mm)
    Jig saw
    Planer
    Blower
    Vacuum
    Multi-tool
    Die grinder
    Grinder
    Light

  • Nail gun
    Air blower
    Spray gun
    Staple gun
    Water oil trap
    Quick connect hose

  • Hammer
    Chisel set
    Screw driver set
    Socket set
    spanner set
    File set
    rasp set
    hand planes
    pliers
    Tin snips
    side cutters
    vice grip
    long nose
    shifting spanner
    Hand Saw
    Hack saw

  • G clamp (75mm)
    G clamp (100mm)
    G clamp (200mm)
    F clamp (260mm)
    F Clamp (600mm)
    T bar (1200mm)
    Pipe clamp
    3/4 Galv Pide
    Vices

  • Tape measure
    Mitre square
    Bevel gauge
    Pocket rule
    Vernier calper
    Spirit level

  • Drill bits
    Masonry bits
    125mm sanding
    150mm sanding
    Table saw blades
    Band saw blades
    Metal band saw blades
    Circular saw blades
    Multitool blades
    Die grinder bits
    Grinder discs
    Argon Shield H5 gas
    Argon gas
    Mig wire
    Tig electrodes
    Tig filler rod

  • Ear muffs
    Goggles
    Welding helmet
    Dust mask
    Gloves

  • Wood bench (2400 x 610mm)
    Metal bench (2500 x 1000mm)
    Small bench (1200 x 800mm)
    Tressels x 3