Platform/ Plotform

This multi-city research project explored artist-led spaces during 2018 and 2019 in five fast-changing African cities to reflect upon their broader relationship to the urban fabric. The research had two key objectives: to find out about sustainable working models, and what kinds of artistic programming such platforms facilitated. The hypothesis being that artist-led spaces are innovating ways of working, and related artistic practices, that correspond in their particular forms and emphases to material realities and everyday life in the continent. This has resonance for other spaces and places of flux. Moreover, the research occurs amid heightened interest in contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, and speaks back to such notions from a grounded and localised perspective.

The images illustrating this project were taken by the author, adapted by A4 Arts ahead of the book launch, Panya Routes (2022), which articulates project findings.