Over at Places, Professor Lisa Findley presents A Tale of Two Apartheid Museums. In it she explores the only two museums dedicated to a national, South African, narrative of apartheid.
Over at Places, Professor Lisa Findley presents A Tale of Two Apartheid Museums. In it she explores the only two museums dedicated to a national, South African, narrative of apartheid.
As she writes: this is a tale of two museums that represent extremes of possible responses to the cultural and political conflicts of the new South Africa. One is located next to Gold Reef City, the other in a place called Red Location. Their place names poetically foreshadow the contexts that shaped the projects. Gold is the shiny color of wealth and bedazzlement; red the color of blood and passion. The Apartheid Museum near Gold Reef is a private venture epitomizing a kind of international neo-liberalism. It is cloaked in political correctness and uses its well-conceived architecture as a theatrical device for narrating a singular history. The Red Location Museum is a community-based initiative framed by a radical rethinking of the project of memorializing.
2 Comments
"Three things stand out in Noero Wolff's design. First, the proposal is sensitive to context; it is conceived as part of the physical and cultural fabric of New Brighton."
Ruins the entire article for me... Baloney!
Greetings. Lisa Findley, author of the piece here. A note: the shacks in the photo that Orhan Ayyuce posts were temporary while the residents were being resettled into newly built housing in the township. This was part of the overall strategy of site redevelopment. The site where the shacks are (in the photo) is now a building site: the Mandela Municipality is building a library and archive of the Struggle against apartheid (also designed by Noero Wolff Architects of Cape Town).
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.