African Mobilities

The exhibition “African Mobilities” at the Architekturmuseum in Munich featured the current state of architecture in Africa in the context of migration, displacement and digital technologies. Its focus was on the rapidly growing cities of Africa which have become central hubs of innovation. The question was how architects and urban developers could react to the increasing mobility on the continent with innovative models of habitation, infrastructure and technology. The exhibition investigated global migratory movements, as well as migration within the African continent as a result of rural exodus to urban centres or displacement due to mining operations. The focus of the exhibition was not the refugee camps, but rather the medium- to large-sized cities and how they coped with migration. Prototypes and innovative approaches, e.g. narrative texts, illustrations, films, 3D models, visualisations and interactive technologies, have been developed for the exhibition in preparatory workshops. In collaboration with Global Africa Lab (New York), the project organisers created large-scale maps, developed in part using drone photography. Another theme of the exhibition was future scenarios of African cities as envisioned by artists and architects. After its presentation in Munich, the exhibition will go on tour through several African countries. The Architekturmuseum hopes that the show will contribute to a broad, interdisciplinary transfer of knowledge in the field of architecture and design. The project was preceded by two thematically related exhibitions. The first, “Francis Kéré. Radically Simple” (2016/2017), featured the works by the Burkina-Faso native architect who now lives in Berlin. The second, “Afritecture” (2013), gained widespread attention as the first comprehensive exhibition highlighting the situation of African contemporary architecture.

Artistic director: Mpho Matsipa (ZA)
Architects: Mabel Wilson (US), Mario Gooden (US), Doreen Adengo (UG), the Cave Architects (KE), Paula Nasciemento (AO), Lesley Lokko (GB), Aisha Balde (ZA), Dana Wabhire (GB), Delphina Namata Musisi (GH), Olalekan Jeyfous (US) and others