Exhibition at the Museum für Völkerkunde / Museum of Ethnology, Hamburg
April 6 – August 19, 2018
The exhibition Flow of Forms / Forms of Flow focuses on Design Histories between Africa and Europe through
the prism of past, present and future: It takes a look at global design
practices and forms which have developed through cooperative projects,
adaptation and transformation of ideas and concepts. Thus Flow of Forms / Forms of Flow reveals multifarious Design Histories in five thematic sections:
Forms of Modernity invoke the beginning of the 20th century and examine the relevance of African objects on modern design in Europe.
At the same time, they demonstrate how closely modern reform movements,
such as Arts and Crafts, were entangled with economic and colonial
premises. Selected positions in contemporary design do not only serve to
make these migrations of forms and concepts visible, but also subject
them to critical reflection. Transform(N)ation
looks at design during the early years of African states’ independence
from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. The political and emancipatory
potentials of design are especially prominent here and the creative
possibilities of expressing
social liberation are considered. Forms of awakening, nation-building
and identity take shape in the tension between globally circulating
concepts and recourses to local traditions. They are manifested in
architecture, (artist) magazines and fashion and are framed by
contemporary positions. Forms of Cooperation / Participation are
concerned with the social and political dimensions of design and focus
on forms, which have developed through cooperation, exchange and
dialogue and the flow of concepts, ideas and practices. Material
Morphosis foregrounds materials as bearers of meaning and considers the
concept of their morphosis (from one material into another). While, in
the European context, the phenomenon of material morphosis was long
pejoratively interpreted as mere imitation, deception or as a
substitute, materials and material morphosis play an important role in
African art and constitute a well-established process in contemporary
design. Here, transformations and translations are imbued with critical
or even playful intentions, as expressions of modernization,
democratization, re-evaluation. Speculative Forms / African Futurism are
concerned with the development of forms at the intersection of
technology, economy, and society. Anchored in the present, these future
scenarios are based on new technologies, materials, and production
methods, transnational networks and alternative infrastructures: they
convey social visions and may initiate paradigm changes, but also
register their draw backs and dystopias.
Countering
the usual representations of historical cultures and life ways in rural
Africa, the museum focuses in this exhibition on the contemporary
culture of the continent, characterised by urban centres with an
unrivalled cultural dynamism and a vibrant creative and artistic scene.
Designers
and Artists: David Adjaye for KnollTextiles, Àga Concept, Kossi
Aguessy, Karo Akpokiere, Black Coffee, Laurence Bonvin, Paolo Cascone /
COdesignLab, Sonya Clark, Matali Crasset & Bulawayo Home Industries,
Cucula, Cheick Diallo, Dokter and Misses, Nana Kwaku Duah II, Michael
Gathogo Githinji, Front & Siyazama Project, Fundi Bots, Eric van
Hove, I.AM.ISIGO, Yinka Ilori, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Wanuri Kahiu,
Markus Kayser, Ladi Kwali, Lumkani, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, Michael
MacGarry, Ernst May, Emo de Medeiros, Vincent Michéa, The Nest
Collective, Laduma Ngxokolo, Karl Ernst Osthaus, Victor Papanek, Shem
Paronelli Artisanal, Simone Post, Rethaka, Walther Schmidt, Kofi
Setordji, Palash Singh for STEP/The New Basket Workshop, Studio
Formafantasma, Studio Sikoki, Kër Thiossane, Fatimah Tuggar, Obiora
Udechukwu, Marjorie Wallace for Mutapo Handmade Pottery, Jules Wokam,
unkown artist of Edo, Kete, Kuba, Lele, Tschokwe, Yoruba und unknown
artists of amaXhosa
Project Partner: Cheick Diallo/Diallo Design, Bamako/Mali.
This exhibition is based on the research and exhibition project Flow of Forms/Forms of Flow. Design Histories Between Africa and Europe
at the art historical institute of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in
Munich. Its adaptation and extension for Hamburg was curated by Prof.
Dr. Kerstin Pinther, Dipl. Des. Alexandra Weigand M.A. and Prof. Dr.
Barbara Plankensteiner.
BOOK WITH TRANSCRIPT
Flow of Forms / Forms of Flow. Design Histories between Africa and Europe, Bielefeld Transcript. 2007 p.
As
a teenager, I spent my time wondering why in sci-fi movies, every
landscape, every object I could see was Western or Asian based. I've
finally understood that somewhere our legacy had been locked in the
past, that we couldn't be "futuristic" in the eyes of our fellow
Europeans. We have to look behind our shoulders, get back to our
traditions, seize the best of them and shape a future with it. This
without forgetting we are part of the world, totally, unquestionably.
The future is for me not only a matter of dialogue with the past, but
and beyond everything a dialogue with the rest of the planet. (Kossi
Aguessy)
How
is it possible to adequately capture histories of design in Africa, a
continent with fifty-four countries? How can one avoid producing just
another essentialising master narrative of "African Design"? How can one
make sense of the many entangled yet often asymmetric and sometimes
ambivalent histories of form-finding processes between Africa and
Europe? In keeping with the premises of a global art and design history
approach, the book offers a change of perspective: focusing on the
mobility of people, objects and ideas – on flows between Africa and
Europe as well as on a South-South axis – allows for multiple yet
necessarily fragmented design histories to be identified and recognised.
The contributors trace multi-faceted design case studies from a
historical perspective, with attention to the present as well as towards
possible futures.
With
contributions by Susan Mullin Vogel, Alison J. Clarke, Gui Bonsiepe,
Daniel Magaziner, Christian Hanussek, Erica de Greef, Kerstin Pinther,
Alexandra Weigand
