African Modernism at AIANY

22. February 2017

All photographs by John Hill/World-Architects

Architecture of Independence: African Modernism is on display at the Center for Architecture in New York City until 27 May 2017. World-Architects stopped by and snapped some photos of the exhibition.

Curated by Manuel Herz and organized by the Vitra Design Museum, the exhibition includes contemporary photographs by Iwan Baan and Alexia Webster.

The focus of the exhibition is the architectural production of a handful of African nations – Ghana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zambia – from 1957 to 1996, when they gained their independence from colonial powers.

A large-scale Iwan Baan photograph of La Pyramide in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, by Rinaldo Olivieri beckons people downstairs, where the exhibition continues.

The double-height space downstairs is set up as a lounge, where visitors can sit down on a Vitra/Jean Prouvé chair, drink a cup of coffee from Kenya, and flip through the book "African Modernism: The Architecture of Independence" by Manuel Herz and Iwan Baan.

The lounge space is visible from the sidewalk, one of the special aspects of the Center for Architecture.

Decals applied to the storefront hint at the contents of the exhibition; this one depicts La Pyramide by Rinaldo Olivieri.