Flow of Forms - Forms of Flow ― Design Histories Between Africa and Europe

How is it possible to adequately capture histories of design in Africa, a continent with fifty-four countries? How can one avoid producing just another essentializing master narrative of “African design”? How can one make sense of the many entangled yet often asymmetric and sometimes ambivalent histories of form-finding processes between Africa and Europe? In keeping with the premises of a global art and design history approach, this book offers a change of perspective: focusing on the mobility of people, objects, and ideas—on flows between Africa and Europe as well as on a South-South axis—which allows for multiple yet necessarily fragmented design histories to be identified and recognized. The contributors trace multifaceted design case studies from a historical perspective, with attention to the present as well as toward possible futures.

Kerstin Pinther is a professor of African art history at the art history department of Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Germany. Her research focuses on contemporary art, architecture, urbanism, and design in Africa and its diaspora. Her most recent publication looked at "New Spaces for Negotiating Art (and) Histories in Africa." As a curator, she organized the exhibition Afropolis. City, Media, Art (2010-2012).

Alexandra Weigand is a designer and art historian who works interdisciplinarily as a curator, lecturer, and researcher. Her exhibition projects include Hit the Future_Design Beyond the Borders and Hit the Future_Metropolitan Design for Munich's design weeks in 2014 and 2015. She is currently a senior researcher at the art history department of Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Germany, with a focus on design and urbanism in Africa.