Dogon Architecture – Traditional Earth Buildings and Art in Mali is an exhibition about the most important African architectural achievements between the Islamic architecture of earth structures in the northern Savannah and the timber buildings of the southern woodlands, enriched by world renowned Dogon sculptures. It goes without saying that the Dogon culture has reached iconic status among Africa lovers.
In our exhibition the visitor will get to know the remarkable architecture of the Dogon; a people from Mali in West-Africa. Their construction method is not only of a high aesthetic quality, but also adapts optimally to its location, the climate and traditional society. The visitor is encouraged to think about new and old architectural possibilities, and to discover climate friendly and energy-efficient alternatives to Western architecture.
Between 1996 and 1997, a team of German architects, from the Hochschule für Technik HTWG in Konstanz, systematically studied the houses and villages of the Dogon in collaboration with Malian and French scientists and supported by UNESCO.
As early as 1989, the cliffs of the village Bandiagara (Northeast-Mali) were designated a UNESCO „world heritage site“ because they incorporate the oldest preserved earth buildings in Africa south of the Sahara, which provide an outstanding example of the merging of human housing forms with the surrounding landscape.
Many aerial photographs of the villages studied, plans, ground plans and elevations of farmsteads, houses and granaries, as well as colour photo panels will be shown. These will be complemented by the original sketches and watercolours of the architects Wolfgang Lauber, Stephan Romero and Fritz Wilhelm, who have been intensely researching the culture and architecture of the Dogon people for 25 years. Additionally, two clay models to the scale of 1:20 and two to the scale of 1:50 will be shown.
To present the exhibition visitor with a comprehensive overview of this remarkable culture, 20-25 outstanding Dogon sculptures from international museum and private collections will be displayed.
The exhibition can be booked for a duration of 3 months per venue during the period from 2011 through 2017.
We offer two versions of the exhibition: one with sculptures and masks and one without. For the version with artworks we recommend 500m2 for a generous exhibition design, for the version without artworks 250 m2.
Accompanying the exhibition is a scholarly catalogue in English and German, published by Prestel Verlag, Munich/New York, edited by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lauber, with text contributions by Lassana Cissé, Mamadi Dembele, Denis Douyon, Oliver Heiss, Wolfgang Lauber, Hélène Leloup, Stephan Romero, Gerhard Thaller and Fritz Wilhelm.
©2008-2009, Art Centre Basel, Basel, Switzerland