About the Exhibition
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.
Carribean Sun, 2012
image from the C-Stunners photography series
© Carl de Souza AFP/Getty Images
Aminata, photograph from the series The Studio of Vanities, 2013
© Victor Omar Diop, 2014
Courtesy Magnin-A Gallery, Paris
Lethabo Tsatsinyane photographed for Dazed magazine, from the Smarteez series, 2010
© photo: Chris Saunders, courtesy PAPA Photographic Archival and Preservation Association, Cape Town
Fauteil Sansa (Sansa Chair), 2011
Metal, nylon, and cord
© Cheick Diallo
Harmony Chair, 2009
Welded weapons (handguns, rifles, land mines, bullets, machine gun belts, rocket-propelled grenades), iron alloy
Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Samuel E. Haslett, by exchange, gift of Mrs. Morris Friedsam, Georgine Iselin, and Mrs. Joseph M. Schulte, by exchange and Designated Purchase Fund, 2013.26.2.
© artist or artist’s estate
Photo: Brooklyn Museum
Afronauts, 2014
film still
© Frances Bodomo 2014.
photo: Joshua James Richards
The Madonna, From The Untold Renaissance series, 2014
pocket square
© Walé Oyéjidé [ikirejones.com]
Special Programs
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Press
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
Credits
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
