Interpretations of Africa: Football, Art and Design @ Design Museum

November 2, 2011 by africanartinlondon 1 Comment

Saïdou Dicko

Football and art might seem like strange bedfellows, but London’s Design Museum begs to differ: their new sportswear design exhibition, opening next week, showcases the results of a recent PUMA commission, which asked ten artists to create new football strips celebrating ‘Africa’s unique visual identity and culture’. (If this project comes as a surprise to you, have a look at Creative Africa Network, the highly successful – if sometimes tricky to navigate – social networking site and listings platform, which is sponsored by PUMA.Creative, the artistic arm of the brand’s social responsibility effort).

Participating artists include:

Saïdou Dicko – Burkina Faso
Godfried Donkor – Ghana
Ernest Düku – Ivory Coast
Hasan and Husain Essop – South Africa
Samba Fall – Senegal
EL Loko – Togo
Hentie van der Merwe – Namibia
Owanto – Gabon
Zineb Sedira – Algeria
Barthélémy Toguo – Cameroon

There’s also an event on the 8th November – the ‘Interpretations of Africa Seminar’ – which will involve most of the artists above coming together to discuss what it’s like working across different cultural contexts, and how they fit into the international art system. The event takes place on the 8th November at 7.30, costs £15, and is co-organised by Iniva. More details and how to book here.

Show:
8-27 November

Opening hours:
Daily 10 – 5.45

Design Museum
28 Shad Thames, London
SE1 2YD