bauhaus
imaginista
●Edition 3: Moving Away
Nov. 23–24 2018
Film und Symposium

Decolonizing the Campus

  • Goethe-Institut Nigeria
  • Gallery 16/16
  • University of Lagos
  • Obafemi Awolowo University

Das Symposium Decolonizing the Campus fand am 23. und 24. November in Lagos statt. Veranstaltet wurde es gemeinsam mit dem Goethe-Institut, der Gallery 16/16, dem Fachbereich Architektur an der University of Lagos und der Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. In einem Dialog von Architekten und Wissenschaftlern aus dem In- und Ausland bot das Symposium eine kritische Auseinandersetzung zur Gestaltungslehre sowie den Universitätsbauten in den Anfangs- und Übergangsjahren der nigerianischen Unabhängigkeit.

Ife-Campus, Nigeria, Film Still from Zvi Efrat's film, photo: © Keren Kuenberg.

Im Mittelpunkt des Symposiums Decolonizing the Campus stand die 1961 aus Protest gegen die britische Bildungspolitik am Ende der Kolonialherrschaft gegründete University of Ife, heute Obafemi Awolowo University. Hier entstand nicht zufällig auch die erste Architekturfakultät einer Universität des unabhängigen Nigerias. Im Auftrag von bauhaus imaginista recherchierte der israelische Architekt Zvi Efrat vor Ort und drehte einen Kurzfilm über die Entstehung des Uni-Campus in Ile-Ife, der vom Bauhaus-Absolventen Arieh Sharon gemeinsam mit einem Stab nigerianischer Architekten (darunter A. A. Egbor aus Lagos) gestaltet wurde.

Ife-Campus, Nigeria, Film Still from Zvi Efrat's film, photo: © Keren Kuenberg.

Sharon schloss sein Studium am Bauhaus 1931 ab und wurde einige Zeit nach seiner Rückkehr nach Palästina während des israelischen Unabhängigkeitskriegs zum Leiter der staatlichen Planungsbehörden ernannt. Zu seiner Mitwirkung am Campus Ife kam es im Zuge der israelischen Entwicklungshilfevorhaben im Afrika südlich der Sahara. Sharon und seine Mitarbeiter planten und bauten den Campus über einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren, bis Mitte der Achtzigerjahre. Inwiefern unterschied sich dieses in der historischen Stadt Ile-Ife auf dem Reißbrett entstandene Uni-Gelände von Universitätsbauten aus der Kolonialzeit? Wie wurde der Campus Ile-Ife damals von Studenten und Architekten aufgenommen? Wie gut erfüllt er seinen Zweck in der Gegenwart?

Zu den Referenten gehörten die Architekten, Kuratoren und Theoretiker Bayo Amole (Obafemi Awolowo University), Abimbola Asojo (Minnesota University), Regina Bittner (Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau), Zvi Efrat (Efrat-Kowalsky Architects, Tel Aviv), Babatunde E. Jaiyeoba (Obafemi Awolowo University), Hannah Le Roux (University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg) und Cordelia O. Osasona (Obafemi Awolowo University).

Kuratiert wurde das Symposium von Marion von Osten (Berlin) und Zvi Efrat (Tel Aviv) in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Goethe-Institut Nigeria.

Ife-Campus, Nigeria, Film Still from Zvi Efrat's film, photo: © Keren Kuenberg.

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