Amid Rapid Urbanization, African Designers Emerge Front
The sidewalks and stalls of most African capital cities are littered with touristy trinkets: luminous wooden masks, photos of dreamy safari landscapes, cheap spears that Westerners must pull from their luggage at airports as they head home. The ubiquity of these “African” designs perpetuates an inaccurate perception of the continent as a society of tribal and provincial cultures—with equally antiquated art.
A more sophisticated portrayal of modern African artistry—”Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design"—will open Saturday at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany.
The exhibit is an ambitious collection of fashion, photography, fine art, and examples of architecture and urban planning. Evident in many of the designs is the entrepreneurial spirit of Africa’s creative class. Cities have become laboratories for vibrant innovation, which continues, to sweep across the continent. African cities are undergoing revolutionary change right now. By 2020, it is projected to become the most rapidly urbanizing region of the world. This show couldn’t be more timely: Africa’s designers, like its cities, have flown under the radar for far too long.