Osseo-Asare, D. & Abbas, Y. “Efie: The Museum as Home. Kunst aus Ghana, [Culture of Ghana],” Dortmunder U, Center for Arts and Creativity, Dortmund, Germany, by Commission. Exhibition curator: Nana Oforiatta Ayim. (December 10, 2021 – March 6, 2022). Exhibition design for a major international exhibition of contemporary “next generation” artists from Ghana alongside a new piece by celebrated Ghanaian artist Al-Anatsui and historical “looted” Akan objects on loan from German/European collections. https://dortmunder-u.de/event/efie-the-museum-as-home/
Student researchers Mahan Motalebi, John Martin, Mia Fantasia, Richard Sodeinde, Luke Scanlon and Dara Olumide, explored with HuMatLab and Yasmine Abbas the geometric possibilities of the synergetic field as an organizing principle in design, through potential configuration morphologies of fufuzela clusters in the Dortmunder U space. Final exhibition architecture visible online through a digital 3D walkthrough at: https://dortmunder-u.de/efie/
Clicking on the image will take you directly to the 360° tourFufuzela with triangulated legs standing vertically in “cobra” orientation, next to banners “Lying in Wait” (2020) part of a masquerade series by Na Chainkua Reindorf.This exhibition was the debut of a new version of fufuzela build kit featuring exclusively CNC-fabricated components (plasma-cut plate steel and routed plywood using computer-controlled tooling).We demonstrate a new minimum module configuration in which a single bifurcated cuboctahedron rotates open to form an ambidextrous canopy structure, shown here resting on hexagonal base.The digitally fabricated build kit also exhibits affordance for a hybrid canopy with rectangular base showing characteristics of folded spatial enclosure, as well as container and porch types.Bifurcated fufuzela module demonstrating the basic thread pattern, wherein the tensegrity para-structure is utilized directly in situ as a physical loom to weave a rudimentary skin akin to nkyimu in Adinkra system.Duet of two fufuzela physically coupled for the first time in a single gallery of the exhibition hall, showing how the ruled surface of the thread patterns bends or folds space through rotational-torsional symmetry.Updated build kit performs as a woven tensegrity structure in which plywood strut “combs” interact through torsional resistance with the bolted steel connector plates and metal cable cross-bracing to weave space as a re-orientable “para-structure” with flexible-use accommodation.
