Structures

31 May – 15 November 2025

 

Structures is the second exhibition under the Worldmaking theme, following Ecospheres. A structure can be understood as either material or immaterial. It might represent a body of knowledge, a social framework or an infrastructural system treated as a single entity and held together by a plan, a pattern or a guiding logic. The Structures exhibition considers the human in relation to the built environment, and brings together artists and architects from the South who explore how space, place, and race intersect in both tangible and intangible structures. Structures reflects on how materials carry meaning and how people themselves can act as forms of infrastructure.

At the core of these concerns is the topic of vernacular architecture. How have indigenous forms of artistry, tradition and knowledge contributed to an African form of architecture and to practices of everyday life? This question is framed obliquely via three interconnecting sections that function as curatorial threads throughout the exhibition of works by artists and architects:

  1. Situatedness presents the relationship between space and subjectivities through translation, memory, heritage and migration.
  2. Infrastructures considers how architecture relates to power and ideology, referencing both formal architecture and informal dwellings, and contrasting ideology with iconography.
  3. Typologies shows the sensorial and abstract qualities of personal and collective practices and rituals in urban and rural contexts.

Featured artists: Igshaan Adams (ZA); Kader Attia (DZ/ FR); Kamyar Bineshtarigh (IR/ZA); Jellel Gasteli (TN/FR); David Goldblatt (ZA); Kiluanji Kia Henda (AO); MADEYOULOOK (ZA); Matri-Archi(tecture) (ZA/CH); Hélio Oiticica (BR); Hajra Waheed (IN)

Special projects: Stephen Hobbs (ZA); Rebecca Potterton (ZA); Wolff Architects (ZA)

 

Read the publications: Exhibition Guide and Structures Reader.

Explore a virtual tour and read more about the exhibition below.