The curator took over Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam (FKA Witte de With) in January, moving from the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria, and her opening programme has brought a distinctly African musicality to Rotterdam: a group show titled Pickup Notes, designed to imbue ‘a sense of motion’ to exhibition-making, featured Ghanaian-Russian photographer Liz Johnson Artur, South African artist and researcher Zara Julius, and Pakistani painter Madiha Sikander; and a series of solo shows held under the banner First Double 1 & 2, the title taken from a song by South African musicians Madala Kunene, Baba Mokoena and Sibusiso Mndaweni. More than that, however, Ngcobo brings her distinct curatorial formula of decolonisation through self-organisation and collectivity to the institution, or as she puts it, ‘embracing improvisation as an ongoing conceptual approach’, honed as cofounder of Johannesburg-based groups Nothing Gets Organised and Center for Historical Reenactments, as well as a veteran of collective-led biennials in Berlin and São Paulo.