New gates to the world of design
An exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum throws a new light on contemporary African design.
New definitions of design, art, photography, architecture and film were the focal point of the impressive exhibition “Making Africa” at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. The works by more than 120 artists illustrate how design is accompanying and promoting the economic and political changes in Africa. The exhibition, which will be on show until mid-September 2015, focusses on a new generation of African entrepreneurs, thinkers and designers. As “digital natives” they address a global public, prompting a new view of Africa. Often they work in several disciplines at the same time and break with the conventional standards applied to design, art, photography, architecture and film – and frequently influenced by the West.
In addition to the spectacles sculptures by Kenyan artists Cyrus Kabiru, the items of furniture by the Malian designer Cheick Diallo and the photographs by Mário Macilau from Mozambique, the show also includes the architecture of Francis Kéré and the striking cardboard models of cities by Bodys Isek Kingelez. The exhibition will be shown at the Guggenheim Bilbao as of autumn 2015.
