African Voices Choir in Venice… great minds and ideas
The Venice Architecture Biennale attracts designers from all over the world, criticizing and suggesting new directions. However, the presence of African practitioners has always been the exception, not the rule.
It changed dramatically. Of the 89 participants in the 2023 Biennale’s flagship exhibition, “Lab of the Future,” on display in several locations through November 26, more than half are from Africa or the African diaspora. Half of them are female, with an average age of 43.
This radical redistribution was a priority for the curator, Scottish of Ghanaian descent, Leslie Loko. Her goal, she wrote, was to move away from “a solitary exclusive voice whose influence and power are ignored by vast numbers of humanity.”
Loko’s cluster includes African talent, including notable architects such as Francis Kerry of Burkina Faso; The first African to win the Pritzker Prize, to a large number of practitioners and emerging artists, and it illuminates the depth and richness of ideas emanating from that continent, knowing that it is the fastest growing in terms of population globally, and for many, it is a guide to the trends of architecture and development.
“In the Global South we have great minds and ideas. We compete on the same level; But no one really listened to us or cared to hear it from an African perspective, and perhaps it was an African point of view with a Western influence,” says Stella Motegi, co-founder with Kabag Karanga of the architectural firm Cave Bureau in Nairobi, Kenya, 9 years ago.
Kev Bioro’s contributions, like the other participants, expanded the definition of architecture beyond traditional concepts of building. Rather, it is about digging deep and imaginatively into new places and cultures to unearth critiques and prescriptions for the future.
A gathering that celebrates local traditions of song, dance and poetry offers conversations with members of several African cave societies, such as some of the Maasai residing in the caves of Mount Sosua, in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Narrated histories are combined with graphics, maps, photos, 3D scanning and natural sounds, in an immersive experience that mimics the impact of modernity. The show also shows the resilience of those who have long been able to live in harmony with nature.
“To look to the future, we need to go back,” says Karanga, proposing a return to a “true and honest state” as a solution to the ecological and social damage caused by modern life. He adds, “It may sound romantic, but we are trying to deal with this type of crisis.”
A best-selling architectural educator, critic, and novelist, Loko helped mentor many of the participants. The Future Lab emphasizes the role of storytelling in creating architecture and challenges what discipline is, how it can be, and how it can change society through creativity and inclusiveness, not violence or disruption.
In turn, Xena Tavares, the founder, along with his brothers Gaika and Kibuye Tavares, comments on a creative collaboration called “The Foundation with GKK”: “The more we can attract a larger group of people to find out their opinions about how the world can be, and to think creatively, That was better.”
Loosely inspired by the traditional West African storytellers known as ‘galis’, their installation ‘Gali’ presents short stories within a computer-augmented fantasy world of the future. Viewers can interact with the show, move through scenes, and explore various AR stories and settings.
“It’s a tool to explore how this technology can influence us and define who we are,” explains Kibuye Tavares. Whenever there is a shift in technology, you see a shift in how people create buildings. How do they paint? How they see and experience the world. How will the world change when we are not the only voice?
The global impact of young architects of African descent is another matter. The Tavares brothers grew up in South London to parents from Jamaica and Grenada who considered themselves Pan-African. “She always encourages us to think of ourselves as part of the African diaspora,” says Gaika Tavares.
Serge Atokwe Cloty, an artist in Accra, Ghana, has attached pieces of yellow oil containers, commonly used in Africa to store and transport water; To form a surface undulating from the columns of the “Gaginder” docks for shipyards in the sixteenth century. In and around Accra, Cloty collaborates with young architects to transform discarded materials into new designs; From chairs to homes. “This is what Africa is now,” he says. “It’s about using our own ideas and resources to remake our country.”
Christian Benimana, a senior manager at MAS Architects, with offices in the United States and native to Rwanda; On the nuances of language. In this work, members of MAS Studio Africa discuss the meaning of different words from Rwanda’s national language, Ikinyarwanda. “Umuganda” roughly means “teamwork towards a common goal,” “upudihi” means “a social activity that brings neighbors together,” and “upuvura” represents the highest level of human character.
“Through tradition and meaning, you can perceive and understand the spirit or essence of a people,” says the designer of “Mass” company in Rwanda, Symphorine Gasana. The full story is what we know, plus all the other collective opinions and viewpoints of many people and cultures.
Emmanuelle Admasu and Jane Wood, Partners at Ad-Woo New York Architects; The concept of a metaphysical, loosely defined resting area, which could be a home, a school, or an entire city. How does this protected world engage with the external chaos? The push and pull of modernity and tradition, security and exchange? An answer hangs from the ceiling of the Arsenale exhibition site, a structure made of corrugated metal sheets, bamboo scaffolding, tarpaulin and rope. It suggests the construction of a large dam in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, where Admasu was born. At the heart of the building, there are massive and complex dressings that evoke the spirit of “Gibi”.
Admasu says, “I think that the biennale is finally moving in a direction that represents worlds and multiple ways of understanding the value and industry of space,” and gives lessons to the world: “We need to intensify efforts in various forms of solidarity, rather than retreating or closing more inside.”
