Exhibitions

Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design showcases the work of over 120 artists and designers and illustrates how African design accompanies and fuels economic, social, and political change in the continent. Through sculpture, prints, fashion, furniture, film, photography, apps, maps, digital comics, and more, the exhibition presents Africa as a hub of experimentation that generates innovative design approaches and solutions with worldwide relevance. Organized by the Vitra Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Making Africa focuses on a generation of entrepreneurs, thinkers, and designers from and within Africa who address a global audience and provide the world with a new vantage point on their continent. Ranging from playful to provocative to political, their work often breaks conventional barriers between disciplines and expands the potential of design in the twenty-first century.

For more information about this exhibition, please visit the Making Africa website.

This exhibition will be on view in our Butler Gallery, located on the ground floor of the museum.

10.25.18 – Gallery Talk with Moyo Okediji

10.26.18 – B Scene: Afrobeats

11.8.18 – Gallery Talk with Kate Catterall

11.15.18 – Music at the Blanton: Bamako Airlines

11.15.18 – Gallery Talk with Muhktara Yusuf

11.15.18 – Making Africa: Panel Discussion

Art This Week Productions recorded this panel discussion held at the Blanton in conjunction with Making Africa. The panel featured Nosarieme Garrick, Executive Producer and Director, My Africa Is (Making Africa artist); Walé Oyéjidé, Esq., Designer and Creative Director, Ikiré Jones (Making Africa artist); and artist and designer Mukhtara Yusuf; with moderator, art historian, artist, and curator Moyo Okediji.

12.13.18 – Gallery Talk with Betelhem Makonnen & Tammie Rubin

Alcalde, Contemporary African Design comes to Austin with Blanton’s Latest Exhibition

The Architect’s Newspaper, Austin’s Blanton Museum surveys the state of African design

Austin 360, Explore a continent of African design at the Blanton Museum of Art

The Daily Texan, Blanton Museum surveys contemporary African art with the exhibit ‘Making Africa’

Departures, The Best Cultural Events to Get You in the Fall Spirit

Glasstire, Top Five Fall Preview August 30 2018

Glasstire, Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design at the Blanton

The New York Times, Back to School With a Side of Art

The Root, Local Color: Your Museum-Worthy Guide to Getting Cultured Over the Holidays

Sightlines, Making Americans Think About Africa

soulciti, New Blanton Exhibit is a Glimpse of the Real Africa

Tribeza, Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design

Vogue, 12 of the Best Design Exhibitions to See This Fall

Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design is organized by the Vitra Design Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.

German Federal Cultural Foundation

Generous funding for this exhibition at the Blanton is provided by Suzanne Deal Booth, Jeanne and Michael Klein, and Suzanne McFayden, with additional support from Ellen and David Berman.

The Blanton presentation is organized by Claire Howard, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Blanton Museum of Art

Share your experience on social media using the #MakingAfrica hashtag.

Image Credit:
Cyrus Kabiru
Caribbean Sun, 2012 (detail)
Image from the C-Stunners photography series
© Carl de Souza AFP/Getty Images