From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Apr 01 2010 - 07:43:48 EST
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/review-23821114-urban-africa-by-david-adjaye-shows-a-continent-and-its-city-limits.do
Urban Africa by David Adjaye shows a continent and its city limits
Kieran Long 01.04.10
Into Africa: mock Italian style in Asmara, Eritrea
When we think of Africa, we only rarely think of great cities.
London-based architect David Adjaye (who was born in Dar es Salaam, in
Tanzania) ambitiously aims to address what is a continent-sized void in
architectural discourse with this exhibition of photographs of Africa’s key
cities.
The heart of the show is a room of nearly 3,000 (no one knows the exact
number) 4in x 3in photographs from Adjaye’s travels over the past few years.
It’s an astonishing achievement, and perhaps the first comprehensive attempt
to represent, to a popular audience, the state of African urban life.
The photographs have the quality of holiday snaps, many of them out of focus
or badly framed, documenting mainly individual buildings from each of the
capitals. They are taken by Adjaye often from the back of taxis on flying
visits, and they come without captions. Their quality is in their quantity:
they portray the typical rather than the specific, from civic monuments to
slum housing.
Only in the ancient cities of the north (Cairo, Algiers) do we find urban
spaces that are easily understandable to western eyes, with souks and
religious buildings as scenery. The most western of all is the aberration of
Asmara in Eritrea, built by Mussolini as a strange, mock-Italian utopia,
dotted with Byzantine churches and art-deco monuments.
But African capitals are, in general, modern cities with very little built
heritage that reaches back further than the 20th century. As a result, many
of the photographs display hideous parodies of the worst excesses of western
architectural styles, or various kinds of slum housing from Pretoria’s
townships to the shacks and shanty towns of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Adjaye’s exhibition is an addictive experience, and should begin new debate
about an inexhaustible topic.
Until 5 September. Information: 020 7940 8790, designmuseum.org
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