Borders, Mobilities and Landscapes. Mapping railway infrastructure in (post)colonial Africa

Ghent
Belgium and Online

In the context of the Trains & Tracks in Africa-program (Europalia Arts Festival), the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ghent University is mounting an exhibition with spatial investigations of railways in Africa, produced by students in the course of master dissertations and a research seminar. The official opening of the exhibition, which will be discussed by curators prof. Johan Lagae and drs. Robby Fivez, will be accompanied by two keynote lectures by Geert Castryck (University of Leipzig, Germany) and Chao Tayiana Maina (African Digital Heritage, Kenya). 

OPENING EXHIBITION BORDERS, MOBILITIES AND LANDSCAPES
Wednesday 16.03.22, 19h00 – 22h00 / Location: VANDENHOVE, Rozier 1, 9000 Gent
Organizers will open a work-in-progress exhibition of work produced by students and staff of the Department of Architecture and Planning of Ghent University on the theme of the railway in Africa, conducted over the last couple of years. Two keynote lectures, one by historian Geert Castryck (University of Leipzig, Germany) and one by digital humanities scholar Chao Tayiana Maina (African Digital Heritage, Kenya) will provide a broader context on the theme. The interventions will be in English.
More info on the program via:
https://assets.ctfassets.net/h7vzq2rtwdqn/55gupj1LDvB36PCNfN1Yh/418013f8b9a463687bfe86b13752e562/Trains___Tracks_in_Africa_1603.pdf

Please register for on campus attendance to the opening as soon as possible here.
The event can also be followed through livestream via this zoom-link.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Trains & Tracks in Africa — A Dialogue on Infrastructures and Mobilities in Africa
Thursday 17.03.22, 9h30 – 19h00 / Location: Africa Museum, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren

During this international conference, a series of scholars from different disciplines (history, anthropology, political science, architecture,..) and backgrounds will present their (ongoing) research on railways in Africa and engage in a conversation with Anne Wetsi Mpoma  and two artists currently in residence in the context of Europalia Arts Festival, Alexandre Kyungu Mwilambwe and Arnaud Makalou. Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka will start the day with a keynote lecture. Please note that interventions will be in French and/or English, with no simultaneous translation.

 More info on the program can be found here or here.

Please register for attendance at the Africa Museum as soon as possible here.
The event can also be followed through livestream after subscription.

Share this post

News from the field

ARQ 121: Utopian América

Coined by Thomas More in 1516, utopia holds a telling ambiguity: it means “no place” (ou-topos) but is sufficiently close to “good place” (eu-topos). Since then, the concept has oscillated between aspiration and critique—between imagining radical alternatives and...

Materialities of Empire

Organizers: Irene Cheng, James Graham, Andrew Herscher, Diana Martinez Attention to material has become almost ubiquitous in recent architectural history, both extending and revising a modernist tradition of interest in material innovation and expression. Whether...

Materia Arquitectura 29: CIVICNESS

CIVICNESS: ARCHITECTURE AND THE POLITICS OF THE PUBLIC REALM Guest editors: Anna Livia Friel & Agustina Labarca Gatica The term character in architecture has long been contested. During the 17th century, it was defined as rational manifestation of a building’s...

Plant Histories, Plantation Architectures

Palm leaves loosely thatched create a bushy screen wall. The screen is part of a large building designed to shelter the pieces of other plants and make them dry out quickly. They are tobacco leaves, hanging from the rafters in neat rows swaying in the breeze. Nearby,...