The Goethe-Institut Namibia is paying the public to get outside and get wise to the city’s pre and post-independence architecture.
With a total of N$3 000 up for grabs, the organisation invites locals to take a selfie in front of one or more buildings from the selection posted to their Facebook and Instagram pages along with the hashtag #goetheinstitutnamibia to stand a chance to win N$1 000 each week.
The social media competition, which will run until 28 February, is taking place in line with the ‘African Modernism – The Architecture of Independence’ exhibition currently on display at the National Art Gallery of Namibia. The exhibition explores how modern architecture was used as a tool to build and express national identity in Senegal, Ghana, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya after independence was obtained during the late 1950s and 1960s, which conversely was the height of apartheid in Namibia.
“The public are invited to interact with the buildings and reflect on not just the aspect of their architecture and function but also what these buildings could possibly have meant to the apartheid government and public at that time,” says Goethe-Institut Namibia press and communications officer Lendl Izaaks.
“Some of these buildings have transformed over time and now serve a different function, but to this day maintain a façade that was purposefully constructed to communicate a certain narrative – most likely one of success, prosperity and domination, and a national identity as demonstrated by the buildings in the exhibition.”
The idea behind the social media competition is to engage the public in a way that provokes thought about the buildings we see each day.
To assist locals in further study of noteworthy buildings, tomorrow the Goethe-Institut Namibia will be hosting a city tour titled ‘Government and Civil Society’ led by architects Natache Iilonga and Elao Martin. The architects will be providing insight into the TransNamib houses, Windhoek Central Police Station, Windhoek High Court, Windhoek Public Library, the Prime Minister’s Office, the old City of Windhoek offices and the Independence Museum.
“Architecture deserves recognition and appreciation as much as other forms of creation such as visual arts, video arts, sound arts and literature that all tell the story of a society,” says Izaaks.
“Buildings do not stand independently of their users and the formation of that relationship between building and user deserves attention, and could assist a society in understanding itself for social and cultural development to prevail.”
Visit Goethe-Institut Namibia on Facebook and Instagram for more information. To join the city tour, reserve a seat by sending an email to culture-windhoek@goethe.de. The tour departs from the National Art Gallery of Namibia tomorrow, Saturday, 22 February at 10h00.
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, marthamukaiwa.com
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