David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures”

Adjaye discusses the first-ever participation of Ghana to the Venice Art Biennale: an earth-bound pavilion that brings together six artists.

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Just Amongst Ourselves (2019)
Courtesy the artist; Corvi-Mora, London; and
Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Felicia Abban, Untitled (Portraits and Self-Portraits) (c.
1960–70s). Courtesy the artist. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” El Anatsui, Earth Shedding Its Skin (2019)
Courtesy of the artist. Photo: David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” El Anatsui, Yaw Berko (2019).
Courtesy of the artist. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” El Anatsui, Opening of Time (2019).
Courtesy of the artist. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Felicia Abban, Untitled (Portraits and Self-Portraits) (c.
1960–70s). Courtesy the artist. Photo: David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Ibrahim Mahama, A Straight Line Through the Carcass of History
1649 (2016–19). Courtesy the artist and White Cube. Photo David
Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Selasi Awusi Sosu, Glass Factory II (2019).
Courtesy the artist. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Just Amongst Ourselves (2019).
Courtesy the artist; Corvi-Mora, London; and
Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” El Anatsui, Earth Shedding Its Skin (2019).
Courtesy of the artist. Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” John Akomfrah, The Elephant in the Room – Four Nocturnes (2019). Four Nocturnes is a new commission for the inaugural Ghana pavilion at the 58th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia. Co-commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Ghana, Sharjah Art Foundation and Smoking Dogs Films with support from Lisson Gallery.
Photo David Levene

David Adjaye designs Ghana pavilion as “exchange between two cultures” Photo Giulia Di Lenarda

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Giulia Ricci
10 May 2019
Venice

This year marks the first participation of Ghana to the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. “Ghana Freedom” brings together six artists in a show curated by Nana Oforiatta Ayim. The title makes explicit reference to the song by E.T. Mensah, composed in the aftermath of the country’s independence from the United Kingdom that took place on 6 March 1957 – first among the sub-Saharan countries of Africa to start the process of decolonisation. We discussed the interaction of the curatorial programme with the design of the pavilion with Adjaye: “The pavilion is in dialogue with the idea of Venice, a place that has an incredible mercantile and cosmopolitan history.” “The idea was not to design just a piece of architecture but I also wanted to talk about Africa being invited, and being acknowledged in its coming to Italy,” he says. “So, the figure is a kind of form which is then coated into the soil of the earth.”

El Anatsui, Earth Shedding Its Skin (2019). Photo Giulia Di Lenarda

The pavilion consists of a lightweight frame system, clad with a thick layer of mortar and is shaped by two full ellipses and four half ellipses. Each element encloses the work of an artist.

The experience of the space results into a sum of interior spaces conceived as the negatives of what the architect described as Ghanaian classical structures: “There’s also a danger that comes with these kind of classical rammed-earth structures: people call them “huts” and I find that quite disgusting. These earth-bound forms are being trivialised as kind of primitive.”

John Akomfrah, The Elephant in the Room – Four Nocturnes (2019). Photo David Levene

The choice of the material bridges the Venetian and Ghanaian plastering traditions: “We brought the sand from Ghana, from a place just outside of Accra, and mixed it with a little bit of laterites cement, a system that is used traditionally on homes in the Sahel area of Ghana. We then got Venetian plasterers to put it up, to interpret this rough plaster technique. So it’s really an exchange between these two cultures, where one brings the material and the other uses the technique.”

Ibrahim Mahama, A Straight Line Through the Carcass of History 1649 (2016–19). Courtesy the artist and White Cube. Photo David Levene

From the outside of the structure inwards, the pavilion hosts El Anatsui and Ibrahim Mahama’s installations, John Akomfrah’s film projection, Selasi Awusi Sosu’ video sculpture, Felicia Abban’s photographic work, along with the work of the painter Lynette Yiadom Boakye (1935), understood as the core of the pavilion.

Felicia Abban, Untitled (Portraits and Self-Portraits) (c.1960–70s). Courtesy the artist. Photo David Levene

Ghana
Ghana Freedom
11 May – 24 November 2019
Nana Oforiatta Ayim
Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture
Felicia Abban, John Akomfrah, El Anatsui, Lynette Yiadom Boakye Ibrahim Mahama, Selasi Awusi Sosu
Sir David Adjaye
Arsenale
Campiello Tana, Venice, Italy