On show at the Architekturmuseum of Munich until August 19th, 2018, the exhibition “African Mobilities” curated by Mpho Matsipa analyses the relationship between architecture and migration in Africa. With the provocative subtitle “this is not a refugee camp exhibition”, the project decidedly wishes to go beyond the simplistic idea of African mobility merely seen as groups of refugees fleeing the continent.

From speculative architecture to urbanistic issues, the show does not look only at human migrations but also at the movement of ideas, stories, aesthetics and resources. Thus to map “how Africans from diverse locations imagine themselves and negotiate spaces of possibility”, underlines Matsipa.

Set in the playful scenography, made of colours and geometrical shapes, designed by Wolff Architects, the exhibits span from the photographic research of Congo-born and Brussels-based artist Sammy Baloji to the urbanistic project Beyond Entropy Angola, by Paula Nascimento and Stefano Rabolli Pansera. First presented at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012, the latest explores the urban fabric of Luanda in Angola, proposing the creation of a functional garden. Also called “energetic common ground” the plot could be used by the population not only as a food and biomass supplier but also as a large-scale natural filter for wastewater.

More than a simple architecture exhibition, African Mobilities is a laboratory that aims at “producing new, alternative practices knowledge and subjects”, explains Matsipa. Thought as a mobile pedagogical platform, the project, therefore, goes beyond the boundaries of the museum and invites to take part in workshops with creatives from diverse backgrounds – such as Nigerian writer Wale Lawal, New York –based artist Olalekan Jeyifous and Ugandan architect Doreen Adengo.