Facts and Fabulations at the CHR’s Iyatsiba Lab, an exhibition that layers archival material with student responses and digital interventions to reimagine how history is experienced. Image: Supplied

The Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) will open a new exhibition, Facts and Fabulations, at its Iyatsiba Lab gallery in Woodstock on Thursday, 9 April 2026. 

The exhibition forms part of the New Archival Visions Programme and draws extensively on materials from the UWC–Robben Island Museum–Mayibuye Archives. 

Curated by Professor Marcos Martins, Facts and Fabulations brings together archival images, student responses, and digital technologies to re-engage audiences with how history is seen, narrated, and experienced. The opening will be preceded by short talks by Prof Martins and assistant curator Katlego Tiisetso Nkoana, offering insight into the research and conceptual process behind the exhibition. 

Seven archival images appear on the gallery walls, their meanings expanded through recorded fabulations by UWC students who respond creatively to the materials.

These spoken interventions are complemented by Augmented Reality installations that allow visitors to access related archival content and additional layers of interpretation. 

Professor Marcos Martins, curator of Facts and Fabulations and Digital Curatorial Fellow in the New Archival Visions Programme at UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research. Image: Supplied

Positioned as a countercurrent to the rapid and often superficial consumption of images in the digital age, the exhibition invites slower acts of looking and learning. In this space, fabulations are not treated as fictional departures from truth, but as meaningful expressions of memory, experience, and collective histories. At the same time, facts are reconsidered not as fixed narratives, but as evolving processes shaped by context, time, and interpretation. 

The exhibition is the outcome of an intensive research period undertaken by Prof Martins during his Digital Curatorial Fellowship with the New Archival Visions Programme at UWC. His work engages the intersections of design, philosophy, education, and archival practice, contributing to South–South scholarly collaboration and critical reflections on how truth is produced and encountered. 

Facts and Fabulations runs from 10 April to 10 July 2026 at the Iyatsiba Lab, 66 Greatmore Street, Woodstock. More information available HERE.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/facts_fabulations/
FREE tickets available for booking on QUIKET.