Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design showcases the work of over 120 artists and designers and illustrates how African design accompanies and fuels economic, social, and political change in the continent. Through sculpture, prints, fashion, furniture, film, photography, apps, maps, digital comics, and more, the exhibition presents Africa as a hub of experimentation that generates innovative design approaches and solutions with worldwide relevance. Organized by the Vitra Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Making Africa focuses on a generation of entrepreneurs, thinkers, and designers from and within Africa who address a global audience and provide the world with a new vantage point on their continent. Ranging from playful to provocative to political, their work often breaks conventional barriers between disciplines and expands the potential of design in the twenty-first century.
Share your experience on social media using the #MakingAfrica hashtag.
Cyrus Kabiru, “Caribbean Sun,” 2012, image from the C-Stunners photography series © Carl de Souza AFP/Getty Images
Omar Victor Diop, “Aminata,” photograph from the series The Studio of Vanities, 2013 © Victor Omar Diop, 2014 Courtesy Magnin-A Gallery, Paris
Chris Saunders, Lethabo Tsatsinyane photographed for Dazed magazine, from the Smarteez series, 2010 © photo: Chris Saunders, courtesy PAPA Photographic Archival and Preservation Association, Cape Town
Cheick Diallo, “Fauteil Sansa [Sansa Chair],” 2011, Metal, nylon, and cord, © Cheick Diallo
Gonçalo Mabunda, “Harmony Chair,” 2009 Welded weapons (handguns, rifles, land mines, bullets, machine gun belts, rocket-propelled grenades), iron alloy Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Samuel E. Haslett, by exchange, gift of Mrs. Morris Friedsam, Georgine Iselin, and Mrs. Joseph M. Schulte, by exchange and Designated Purchase Fund, 2013.26.2. © artist or artist’s estate Photo: Brooklyn Museum
Frances Bodomo, “Afronauts,” 2014, film still, © Frances Bodomo 2014, photo: Joshua James Richards
Ikire Jones, “The Madonna,” From The Untold Renaissance series, 2014, pocket square, © Walé Oyéjidé [ikirejones.com]
Past Program: Making Africa: Panel Discussion
Art This Week Productions recorded this panel discussion held on November 15, 2018 at the Blanton in conjunction with Making Africa. The panel featured Nosarieme Garrick, Executive Producer and Director, My Africa Is (Making Africa artist); Walé Oyéjidé, Esq., Designer and Creative Director, Ikiré Jones (Making Africa artist); and artist and designer Mukhtara Yusuf; with moderator, art historian, artist, and curator Moyo Okediji.
Press
Alcalde, Contemporary African Design comes to Austin with Blanton’s Latest Exhibition
The Architect’s Newspaper, Austin’s Blanton Museum surveys the state of African design
Austin 360, Explore a continent of African design at the Blanton Museum of Art
The Daily Texan, Blanton Museum surveys contemporary African art with the exhibit ‘Making Africa’
Departures, The Best Cultural Events to Get You in the Fall Spirit
Glasstire, Top Five Fall Preview August 30 2018
Glasstire, Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design at the Blanton
The New York Times, Back to School With a Side of Art
The Root, Local Color: Your Museum-Worthy Guide to Getting Cultured Over the Holidays
Sightlines, Making Americans Think About Africa
soulciti, New Blanton Exhibit is a Glimpse of the Real Africa
Credit
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design is organized by the Vitra Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.
Generous funding for this exhibition at the Blanton is provided by Suzanne Deal Booth, Jeanne and Michael Klein, and Suzanne McFayden, with additional support from Ellen and David Berman.
The Blanton presentation is organized by Claire Howard, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Blanton Museum of Art