London Afropolitan: Project Review

About the event

Through lively discussion, this evening seminar in the AAD Sessions series aims to share with colleagues the current phase of “London Afropolitan”, our research project conducted in partnership with the Africa Centre, London. The discussion-based seminar will offer an opportunity to discuss how our investigations have developed, working in collaboration with a range of stakeholders and invited participants, and adopting a consciously interdisciplinary approach. Bringing colleagues together colleagues across the range of AAD subjects, and including team members beyond the School and in collaboration with external partners, the project has developed along several strands that maybe thematised according AADs subject areas.

The architectural strand, led by Matthew Barac (with co-investigator Mokena Mokeka, architect and academic) and initiated at the Venice Biennale 2023, was inspired by RIBA Gold Medallist Lesley Lokko’s curatorial provocation ‘the laboratory of the future’. “Afropolitan Architecture” set out to initiate and situate dialogue concerning the shaping of a shared urban future – first in Venice and thereafter in London – with the aim of expanding the biennale’s exhibition agenda into debate.

For the second strand, led by Mavernie Cunningham, two participatory workshops emphasised artistic practice and collaborative creativity, with guest speakers representing a range of relevant fields from curating to painting, from graphic design to literary activism. Hands-on participatory exercises allowed us to collectively interrogate the objective of “Mapping Afropolitan Imaginaries”, opening the prospect of insights concerning the ‘worlding’ of Blackness and diasporic identities in London, and inviting us to navigate its hybrid formulation as Afropolitanism.

Our third theme, anchored to the subject area of design, focused on fashion to explore co-existing considerations in the reciprocity between traditional Xhosa patterns and global African styles. Led by Harriet McKay, “Fashioning the Afropolitan Future” celebrated South African luxury brand MaXhosa Africa with a multi-stage event that allowed students to engage with special guest Laduma Ngxokolo, creative director of the brand. As the finale in the London Afropolitan series, this high-profile occasion provided an opportunity to mark the 60-year anniversary of the Africa Centre, while also honouring three decades of democracy in South Africa.

Please join us and our extended team, including student members and assistants, invited stakeholders and project participants to date, for this event. Although a seminar format will be adopted, we encourage wide-ranging discussion as your feedback will certainly help this project’s development.

Speakers

Matthew Barac is a Professor of Architecture and Urban Culture and leads Postgraduate Research at the School of Art, Architecture and Design. He is Director of CUBE: the Centre for Urban and Built Ecologies, and leads the research project Afropolitan Architecture, developed in collaboration Mokena Makeka and launched at the Venice Biennale 2023.

Harriet McKay is a curator and academic with a specialism in interior design history. She retains a keen interest in the material and visual dimensions of culture across the African continent, a topic that informs much of her work, including a parallel project concerning craft-design and women’s empowerment in the Global South (in collaboration with Anne Massey, UCA, Canterbury).

Adeyemi Akande is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, is an art and architectural historian with interests in the art and material cultures of Africa. His core research focus concerns the history, spirituality, materiality and meaning embodied in the art, architecture, and urban settlements of pre-20th century West Africa.

Ricardo Eversley is a London-based creative and Senior Lecturer at the School of Art, Architecture and Design whose career focuses on the conversation between modern digital techniques and traditional graphic communication processes and narratives.

Wally Mbassi Elong is an Associate Lecturer in Sociology at the School of Social Sciences and Professions. He holds a BA in Advertising from the Advanced School of Mass Communication (ASMAC) in Yaoundé, Cameroon – the city where he grew up – and completed his graduate studies at LondonMet culminating in a PhD in Media, Communications, and Cultural Studies.

Chair

Mavernie Cunningham is the Head of Art at London Metropolitan University. She is an experienced educator as well as artist with a multidisciplinary practice that includes a range of the visual output, spoken word and as a musician. Cunningham’s recent artistic practice and research includes collaborative film-making, sound and performative spoken word.

Project Team

Team: Mavernie Cunningham (PI), Matthew Barac (Co-I), Harriet McKay (Co-I, PI), Adeyemi Akande, Wally Mbassi, Ricardo Eversley, Tunmiji Osibodu (Project Assistant), Emma Carpenter (Research Assistant)

Associates: Mokena Makeka, Nana Biamah-Ofosu

Digital: Magda Olchawska (Content Editor), Kagiso Morake (Social Media)

Community Partners: Africa Centre (London)

Academic Partners: Cooper Union (New York), Architectural Association (London)

Sponsors: Kromanti Rum

Funded by: LondonMet (Transformation Fund and Rescaling Fund), with contributions in kind from Dalberg Advisors