PUBLISHER
Vitra Design Museum

BOOK FORMAT
Flexi, 9.5 x 13 in. / 345 pgs / illustrated throughout.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 6/23/2015
Out of print

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2015 p. 89   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9783931936525 TRADE
List Price: $110.00 CAD $154.00

AVAILABILITY
Not available

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/20/2015

Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design

What a book! Vitra Design Museum's glorious new survey, Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design surveys the best of the new generation of African architects and artists, entrepreneurs and doers. Advising curator Okwui Enwezor writes, "When we come to the question of design and attach the word Africa to it, we have to overcome the legacy of how this relationship has been mostly confined to the artisanal, to types of production that one might not conceive a within the vocabulary of contemporary design. We have to rethink concepts like recycling, remodeling, impoverished or informal in order to find productivity in relation to the present and not only in relation to ideas of deficit that may have been attached to Africa in general…" Featured image is Vincent Michéa's 2014 collage, "Untitled (black with spot)." continue to blog

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/19/2015

Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design

"Contemporary art practices with their interdisciplinary approach and blurred boundaries between art forms have fused design as the ligand that binds and informs virtually each creative endeavor," African Arts Foundation founder Azu Nwagbogu writes in Making Africa, Vitra Design Museum's enlightening new survey of contemporary African art and design. He singles out Omar Victor Diop's latest series of self-portraits as a particular "tour de force," explaining, "Diaspora is fascinating and makes a compelling argument for revisiting the legacy of Africans in Europe. Diop focuses on a period between the 15th and 19th century. A journey of personal and familial identity which—without getting lost in its irony—was produced and inspired by Diop's time on a residency in Málaga, Spain. Diaspora travels back in time to bring to view the legacy of iconic Africans who left a positive impression in Europe. Each image is transmuted to a contemporary age, with design objects that reference sport at a time games like football or baseball did not exist. It forces us to reflect on the legacy of our sporting heroes today and a comparative view about the status of these iconic Africans from previous times." continue to blog

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 8/18/2015

Making Africa

"The future belongs to Africa," Okwui Enwezor writes in Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design. And it's true. Zanele Muholi's 2010 portrait, "Zinzi and Tozama I, Mobray Capetown," from the Being series, is captioned: "While protected by law, lesbians are often discriminated against in daily life, and frequently face acts of violence such as the so-called 'corrective rape.' Muholi's portraits of lesbian couples do not counter this discrimination accusingly or defiantly, but rather contront the negative connotations attributed to homosexuality in most of South Africa with positive values and associations. In her pictures as in life, homosexual love is beautiful—and it is also real. Muholi categorizes her work as visual activism: whatever the underlying factors may be, communities on the fringe of society lack visual presence, which the photographer wishes to highlight with her images. With Being, Muholi brings to public perception the existence, aspirations and needs of the South African lesbian community." continue to blog