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The African House – PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
In the spring of 2006 the ArchiAfrika foundation and STAND/Stichting Afrika Naast de Deur * started their collaboration on the project “The African House - PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE”.
This project tells the story of how the African community is housed and lives in the Netherlands (PRESENT), how these immigrants look back at the environment they came from (PAST) and how they see their future house when re-immigrating to their home country (FUTURE).
Many of the African immigrants living in the Netherlands are investing in their home country by erecting a home for their family and, on the longer term, their retirement. The total amount of investment in Africa by African immigrants all over the world outreaches largely the total sum of investment and aid by governments of countries elsewhere. With this project we want to put in the spotlight the influence of the Diaspora on the African architectural identity through its investments in housing after having lived abroad. Is there actually an African identity in the (built) environment, and if so, what is it? Can this only be found in Africa, or is the African architectural identity still alive in housing in the Diaspora? What does it mean to immigrants and how does it affect the houses they currently live in? Will it also have effect on their future building activities in Africa?
Via a series of workshops with 20 African immigrants in Amsterdam Southeast we aim to produce material that shows the African identity within The African House and its use in daily life, in the past, the present and the future, in Africa and in the Diaspora. We expect that this material will direct us towards some answers on the many questions mentioned above.
On three sequential Saturdays participants will visualise (via drawings, models, computer animations) or describe in writing or telling how they experienced their (African) environment in the past, how they experience their current environment and personalise this, and how they think, dream or see the home to be created when they return to Africa in the future after a successful period in the Netherlands. Perhaps they do not want to move back to Africa, in that case they are challenged to visualise their future home in the Netherlands. During the closing session on the fourth Saturday there will be contributions and reflections on the produced material by immigrant artists, architects, politicians etc.
The material gathered during the workshops will form the basis for an exhibition, shown in the Netherlands and in Kumasi, Ghana, at a conference focussed on the question whether there is something like a common identity of African Architecture, and if any, what its meaning is for current and future developments in Africa. During the opening events of both exhibitions, the workshop material will be used as a starting point for critical reactions by speakers, as an introduction to the debate. Furthermore, the workshop material will be presented on the ArchiAfrika website and a documentary will be made, showing how the exhibition was realized.
With this project we would like to give input to:
the debate on the meaning of an own cultural identity for immigrants
the debate on the meaning of culture for a developing continent, country and its inhabitants
The output of the project can be of relevance to African immigrants and their neighbours in the Netherlands, to institutes like housing corporations and policy makers in the Netherlands, development agencies, architects in Africa and elsewhere, and to the debate on African Architecture as initiated by the Department of Architecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.
If successful, the formula can be repeated on other locations, for instance in African cities like Nairobi or Johannesburg, but also with immigrant communities elsewhere in the world where there is an eminent presence of African immigrants like in Paris or London.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Project team:
ArchiAfrika:
Robert van Kats – project coordinator
Berend van der Lans
STAND / Stichting Afrika Naast de Deur:
Toni Kofi, president of the foundation.
Trailer:
Script and Interviews – Veerle Denissen & Willem Jan Landman
Director - Veerle Denissen
Camera – Ramon Boers
Sound – Marc Conen
Editing – Ramon Boers & Veerle Denissen
Drama - Ghana Agoromma
* STAND/ Stichting Afrika Naast de Deur (Foundation Africa Next Door) was established by a joint initiative of some idealist Dutch Students of Amsterdam University and some Africans in Amsterdam in 1989. The Key reason to the formation of STAND is to give a viable African presence in the Netherlands on issues of development and education for both the Africans and their chosen country of residence. STAND’s major areas of operation deal with feasibility studies, mobilization and activities that enrich the Africans by means of study-days, workshops and weekend educational conferences. It has more far-reaching programs that relate to the current needs and aspirations of its core groups. STAND does believe in subsidies but only for specific and concrete projects or programs that benefit its target groups. STAND takes care of itself by means of earning income for its office operations and costs through activities.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This project is supported by:
Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst
De Principaal
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