Vigilism, Idumota Market, Lagos 2081A.D., (Our Africa 2081A.D. series), 2013. © Courtesy Olalekan and Walé Oyéjidé

Making Africa – A Continent of Contemporary Design. Vitra Design Museum

It’s time to move on from talk of the “Dark Continent“. A major exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum in spring 2015 sheds new light on contemporary design in Africa. On the basis of a wide variety of examples, “Making Africa” shows how design is accompanying – and even promoting – economic and political change on the continent and engaging in a close dialogue with related disciplines, such as the fine arts, graphic design, illustration, film, photography, architecture and urban planning.

Cyrus Kabiru, Caribbean Sun’, 2012. © Carl de Souza

The exhibition focuses on a new generation of entrepreneurs, thinkers and designers from and within Africa, who – as “digital natives” – address a global audience and provide the world with a new vantage point on their continent. They often work across several disciplines simultaneously and break with conventional definitions of design, art, photography, architecture and film.

Omar Victor Diop, Mame’, series Studio of Vanities, 2013. © Victor Omar Diop, 2014. Courtesy Magnin-A Gallery Paris

A central role is played by the new media, which made this shift in perspective possible in the first place. “Making Africa” is developed together with the internationally renowned curator Okwui Enwezor and supported by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).

Justin Plunkett, Skhayascraper, Rendering, 2013

The exhibition features the objects of Cheik Diallo, eyewear sculptures by Cyrus Kabiru, the photographs of Mário Macilau and Okhai Ojeikere, the architecture of Francis Kéré, the animation art of Robin Rhode and many other creations of designers from different disciplines.

more. www.design-museum.de