African Mobilities

The exhibition African Mobilities addresses the complex forms of mobility within Africa and the diaspora. In the current situation, in which international borders are being redrawn, managed and monitored by force, and in which individual countries are increasingly subject to the affects of capitalist profit cycles, it is time to look into architectural forms which respond to these supposedly set structures.

African cities are presented here as sites of refuge, which in their rapid transformation are producing new architectural typologies, changes in infrastructure and a rapidly expanding interaction with digital technologies. In this context, African migration is seen both as a challenge and as an opportunity for rethinking architecture and urban planning. In preparation for this exhibition, over the past two years architects, town planners, film-makers, artists, social scientists and authors from Africa met at 8 different locations: Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, New York, Dakar, Praia and Munich.

In workshops, they analysed this continually evolving world, and used diverse media to convey their research outcomes, and to visualize possible future urban scenarios. In the exhibition African Mobilities, South African curator Mpho Matsipa from the University of the Witwatersrand brings together the works that came out of those meetings, including artworks, graphic novels, films and audiobooks. Ilze Wolff, a co-director at Wolff Architects in Cape Town, is creating the exhibition design, which captures the various forms of mobility among migrants in a spatial composition.

During the course of the exhibition, there will be a range of additional events, such as D.J. sessions, and talks. All events are open to the public.

A.M. Architekturmuseum der TU München
Barer Straße 40
Pinakothek der Moderne
80333 Munich
Germany

africanmobilities.org