random goodness: decay

Glenna Gordon: Broken Promises

In the 1970s and 1980s, so many promises were made to Liberia and by Liberians. All of them would be broken over the next two decades. As part of a long term project I’m beginning, I plan to document the spaces of these broken promises.

See also: Guy Tillim: Jo’burg Landmark image series from 2005. From Tillim’s artist statement:

The decay of Jo’burg’s centre can be ascribed to many factors but perhaps none more so than the absence of Body Corporates. These had become relics of a more genteel era; the communal responsibilities that are contentious in even the most well-heeled blocks were not marked out. Windows were broken and not repaired. Lifts froze and their shafts became tips.

The relationship between tenants and owners or their agents deteriorated with disputes over the state of the buildings, and in some cases resulted in unpaid rents and dues. The buildings started looking like fire hazards, and the City Council began closing on them for unpaid utilities.

Screenshot of Guy Tillim images from the series “Jo’burg” from the Micheal Stevenson gallery site © Michael Stevenson

See also: Zarina Bhimji: Out of Blue: Zarina Bhimji (Uganda/UK) was a member of the Asian community kicked out of UG in the 70’s; she returned there a few years ago and among other things documented (film/photos) the decay in the public and private buildings that had been abandoned by fleeing Asians during the nightmare that was the Idi Amin years. Some of her images were featured in the landmark International Center of Photography photo exhibition “Snap Judgments“.

Screenshot from Tate Magazine site © Z. Bhimji

africa.architecture: david adjaye’s urban africa

Screen shot from BBC site of David Adjaye’s African urban architecture photos. © D. Adjaye

ARCHITECTURE: Tanzanian-born star-chitect David Adjaye has a show at London’s Design Museum. Urban Africa contains over 2000 images that he has taken over the last 10 years of the civic/commercial/residential architecture of all of Africa’s 53 capital cities. In a BBC interview [audio: interview starts around 5:40] he talks about how people have strong visual connections to the wild landscapes of the continent, but are a little baffled when told about about how cosmopolitan the cities are. The show’s goal is to redress this situation.

I wish I could go see this show. These days when I go back to Nairobi, I see the architecture in a different way. There are many old buildings that intrigue me (designed to address a certain notion of africanness and local climate needs) and new ones that leave me aghast (designed to mimic some bland, uncreative notion of modernity).

PHOTOGRAPHY: See also: Flickr: Nairobi Architecture

Cine Afrique building, Zanzibar. Photo by your humble servant © K. Mucoki

go see: “david adjaye: making public buildings”

the studio museum in harlem has a brilliant show featuring the work of tanzania-born, england-educated, ghanaian architect david adjaye. i was really inspired by the format of the presentation where the conceptual ideas that drove the design, materials used are laid out together with scale models of the buildings. there is also a side presentation adjaye’s ongoing personal project to document the architecture of all 53 of africa’s capitals. cool.