[applied] foreign affairs: ghana

The [applied] Foreign Affairs, a new lab at the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna investigating spatial and cultural phenomena in rural and urban Sub-Saharan Africa, started off this year investigating the status and potential of Guabuliga, a remote village located in the tree savannah of Northern Ghana. Research started in Vienna with the goals of defining growth parameters and projecting growth patterns for the village. Guabuliga’s chief had invited [a]FA to collaborate and to articulate strategies towards an ecological future for his village. During a three week fieldwork phase in February 2012, an interdisciplinary team of six students extensively mapped the current physiognomy of the village. Guabuliga’s founding myth – the well by the thorn tree – is the conceptual starting point for coming up with contextual but novel spatial and programmatic scenarios, variations on ideal growth forecasts for Guabuliga 2022. Parallel to these investigations of planning scale, each participant worked individually on a narrative mapping, in which a specific ‘intensity’ of Guabuliga was identified, captured, and translated into an artistic, documental, or scientific piece.
Students: Christian Car, Ioana Petkova, Joseph Hofmarcher, Jürgen Strohmayer, Stefanie Theuretzbacher and Theresa Theuretzbacher.
[A]FA is led by Baerbel Mueller, an architect and Assistant Professor at the IoA, University of Applied Arts Vienna.
[A]FA GHANA has been taught in collaboration with the architects Bernhard Sommer and Joe Osae-Addo, the artists Nikolaus Gansterer and Bernard Akoi-Jackson, and is implemented in partnership with the NGO Braveaurora and Chief Salifu Mahama Tampurie.

http://www.facebook.com/aFA.appliedforeignaffairs

Opening:
Join us on Monday, June 4th, 2012 7pm
at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Lichthof A
Duration: June 5th - June 11th
Speakers: Wolf D. Prix, Baerbel Mueller, Jürgen Strohmayer
Presentation:
Join us on Sunday, June 10th, 2012 4–6pm
at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Lichthof A
Guest Critics: Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Andrea Börner, Daniel Rössler, Lisa Schmidt Colinet,
Bernhard Sommer, Reiner Zettl