In this episode of ’74PODCAST Series “How Can We All Make it into the Future?”, founders of Cave Bureau, Kabage Karanja and Stella Mutegi talk to Gabriel Kozlowski, architect and assistant curator for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2021, about colonialism in relation to the current social and political climate, the rich history of caves in Kenya, the ways how their project categorization resemble the lifecycle of a Kenyan as well as their work at Anthropocene Museum.
“That complexity of what we went through during colonialism, where even now, we are fighting certain pressures in the society where certain races are being treated very much unfairly and have been subjected to a lot of oppression over the years. In a way, architecture needs to participate in that discourse. Otherwise, we also become complicit.” – Kabage Karanja
“When you’re in space, there’s no up or down. Who decided that north is up and south is down? When you think of Africa, why is Europe seen as being on top? Because you can see it the other way, you can. It doesn’t matter where you look at it when you’re in space. We can as well change the map.” – Stella Mutegi
“When you’re able to not only observe but recreate that atmosphere—or that condition of the cave so people can see it while being elsewhere—you almost create it through language. And the language here is the 3D mapping. You are able to export this idea and broaden the awareness of it. It is a powerful thing when you put a cave there, a replica of the cave through these bronze casts, to allow the whole world to see a condition and reflect on it.” – Gabriel Kozlowski