Unfolding space: Alternative spatial practices from Africa

​As critical cultural commentators, how do we employ and subvert the tools of the architect to produce an expanded definition of the field?

Unfolding space: alternative spatial practices from Africa is an invitation to broaden our architectural lexicon. Convening the practitioners Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou (online), Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk and Nzinga Mboup this event will learn from their practices which span continents, mediums, forms of collaboration.

In this event, each speaker will present their journey, from their education (and the way it informed their work) through to the development of their practice, evoking important turning points but also the forms of expression which they nurtured along the away. The audience are invited to be part of the conversation, as we explore the overlaps and divergences in the speakers’ practices, as well as their sense of accountability to their respective communities.

We welcome you to join us for an evening of celebration, learning from our speakers in an intimate and informal setting, communing with food before gathering for a DJ performance by Zeena.

Unfolding space: alternative spatial practices from Africa is organised by Aude Tollo and Ferial Massoud.

Speaker bios:

Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou is a thinker, author, tech activist, and multi-award-winning social entrepreneur. With a background in industrial design, architecture, and anthropology, he champions community-driven urban innovation in Africa, curates exhibitions and gives lectures and workshops worldwide. He is Founder of L’Africaine d'architecture, a collaborative platform for experimentation and research on african architecture, and of WoeLab(s), a network of Togolese technology hubs aimed at promoting equity in the face of the digital revolution.

Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk is an architectural researcher, designer and performer from Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the founder and creative director of Matri-Archi(tecture) — an association that hosts a network of African and diasporic spatial practitioners dedicated to learning about entangled histories, realities and imaginaries through spatial expression. Khensani is also a doctoral fellow at the gta, ETH Zürich , where her PhD focuses on remembering the forms of kinship that Black foreign women have constructed to make liveable geographies for themselves in the wake of racial-sexual violences in Zürich since the 1980s. Through her multidisciplinary approach, Khensani mobilises visual, written and sonic expressions to remember histories untold and imagine possibilities yet to unfold. Her practice positions architecture as a spatial storyteller.

Nzinga Biegueng Mboup is a Senegalese architect who studied at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and obtained a master’s degree in Architecture at the University of Westminster in London. In 2019, she co-founded Worofila, a Dakar-based architectural practice specialized in bioclimatic design and construction using earth and other locally-sourced natural materials. In 2023, Nzinga produced a film on earth architecture in Senegal, titled Bunt BAN that was exhibited at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. As of July 2023, Nzinga has begun a collaboration as a curator for the Canadian Centre for Architecture and leads ℅ Dakar, a 3-year research project investigating Senegalese architectural traditions.