African art at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The first African curator to lead the Venice Architecture Biennale, Lesley Lokko, has become an emblematic figure of the event, which will open on the 20th of May at its headquarters in Venice. Lokko, the visionary architect behind the creation of the African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana, highlights the interconnectedness between Africa and global architecture.

An African Between Two Worlds

Lokko's life story stands out for its ability to navigate different realities. Born in Accra, Ghana, and moving to Dundee, Scotland at the age of 17, she managed to bridge two distinct cultures.

“Scotland was shaking and Ghana was sweating”, he recalls.

Reinvention is a hallmark of Lokko. In the 90s, he lived in the USA and devoted himself to writing fiction, demonstrating his ability to adapt and reinvent himself. His works, which now total 12, address issues of racial and cultural identity.

Lokko demonstrates his ability to interpret multiple worlds in his project “The Laboratory of the Future“. This ambitious exploration of Africa's impact on the world – and vice versa – includes more than half of the Biennial's 89 participants from Africa or the African diaspora.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa, points out Lokko, is often considered the most urbanized and youthful population in the world. This cultural dynamism has the potential to redefine global architecture.

Despite his progress, Lokko had to face some obstacles. She recently criticized Italy for denying entry visas to three members of her Ghanaian curatorial team.

Lokko has a long history of involvement in issues of race, space and architecture, including writing and editing a pioneering book on the subject. It underlines that those considered “minorities” in the West are, in reality, the global majority.

The African Global Architecture

With the Venice Biennale, Lokko puts Africa and the African diaspora at center stage, addressing pressing issues such as climate change, rapid urbanization and the need to decolonize institutions and spaces. Its unique and innovative approach combines multiple disciplines and presents a model of sustainable practice.

Akosua Obeng Mensah, an architect in Accra, points out that around 80% of development in sub-Saharan Africa still needs to be built. This reality highlights Africa's immense potential to reinvent global and urban architecture.

When talking about Africa and its place in the world, Lokko highlights the difficulty of overcoming existing prejudices. “When you are African, you speak to a world that already has a preconceived view of who and what you are,” she says. The Biennial is thus an opportunity to confront and overcome these preconceived ideas.

The Highlights of the Biennial

Notable contributors to the Biennial include the laureate of the Pritzker Prize, Diébédo Francis Kéré (Burkina Faso and Berlin); Cave_Buu (Nairobi), a company that has mapped slave caves in Kenya; Olalekan Jeyifous of Nigeria; and the renowned British architect David Adjaye, known in the US for his work on the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.

This event provides a forum to discuss Africa with the rest of the world and vice versa.

Conclusion

With the Venice Architecture Biennale as the stage, Lokko highlights Africa's role in global architecture. Her innovative contributions to the event and her passion for African architecture have immense potential to redefine our understanding of the continent's impact on world architecture.

Through the Biennial, the world witnesses an Africa determined to reinvent itself, an Africa that is at the forefront of world architecture, with the ability to influence, innovate and shape the future. The reinvention of Africa at the Venice Architecture Biennale is more than a milestone for African architecture; it is a defining moment for world architecture.

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Picture: © 2023 Kéré Architecture