VENICE BIENNALE 2023: EXPLORING AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE

ALL LIGHTS ON AFRICA

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The 2023 edition of the Venice Biennale Architecture has begun. Every two years, alternately with the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, the International Architecture Exhibition is a significant event on the international cultural scene gathering the best in terms of the architectural world.

This 18th edition is curated by Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko and is the first Architecture Biennale curated by an African, furthermore, woman. For the first time, the spotlight has fallen on Africa and the African Diaspora; with 89 participants, over half of whom are of African descent, the Biennale is also the one with the youngest participants and with more women than ever, a necessary stance to hear diverse voices. Curator, professor, architect, and writer, Lokko is the Co-Founder and Director of the AFI (African Futures Institute), created in 2020, a public events platform and independent postgraduate architecture school located in Accra, Ghana. For this curation, titled "Laboratory of the Future," she envisioned an international workshop space for sharing ideas and solutions focusing on the African continent, an exciting shift from the Western-focused architecture area.

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A testing ground for architectural reflection, the century-old African architecture has many things to inspire the world, from its traditional vernacular constructions to its modern challenges, such as building growth within the context of the global climate crisis. In the world's fastest-growing continent, towers and buildings are growing stunningly, creating new housing, hotels, and offices, expanding existing cities, creating new ones... and new challenges. Despite its low contribution to carbon emissions, Africa is the most impacted by global warming, tackling global warming, drought, and water flooding. Its cities in endless construction, as can be seen walking the neighborhood of Abidjan, Dakar, or Lagos, are scattered with buildings in construction, made of concrete and glass, few with an alternative, local material approach.

The Biennale, therefore, concentrates on the question of decolonization and decarbonization. The exhibition is structured in six sections defined by Lesley Lokko; Dangerous Liaisons, Force Majeure, Special Participations, Guests from 3 the Future, and Carnival, Curator's Special Projects. Highlighting the sustainable commitment of the Biennale and its curator, the six sections have obtained a sustainability stamp.

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With a kick-off event gathering the crest of African architecture from Burkinabé Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kere, Ivorian Koffi & Diabate or  Adjaye Associates from British-Nigerian David Adjaye, atelier masōmī by Mariam Issoufou Kamara from Niger, US firm MASS Design Group, or Walter Hood, to name a few, the first debate "Force Majeure : a Conversation" explored "the personal and professional passions and preoccupations that have shaped their practice and response to architecture in general, and their contributions to the Exhibition in particular."

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The former created a 50 sqm installation called Counteract in the main exhibition. As explained by Kere Architecture, "Counteract celebrates West African architectural prowess of the past, takes stock of the situation today, and nudges towards a different approach." it proposes a view of alternative solutions from a West African viewpoint by exploring the future, present, future, African architecture in all its temporality; what was, what is and what can be.