THE DIRECTOR OF 56th VENICE ART BIENNALE, OKWUI ENWEZOR, ABOUT TRADITIONAL DESIGN VOCABULARY AND ITS ROLE IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

Nigerian-born curator Okwui Enwezor is the consulting curator of »Making Africa – A Continent of Contemporary Design«. He is the director of Munich’s Haus der Kunst and the director of the 56th International Venice Art Biennale in 2015. Throughout his career, Enwezor has focused on art and design of the 20th and 21st century from all over the globe. He also studies theories of diaspora and migration, post-colonial modernism and the architecture and urbanism of post-colonial African cities.

 

This interview, which was led by the exhibition’s curator Amelie Klein, is the perfect primer to start engaging with the exhibition. Enwezor discusses the influence of design in Africa and why it is important to redefine the traditional design terminology in this new context.