Press release: atelier masōmī unveils a new installation titled Process at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale

Process by atelier masōmī  presented at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Photo by Matteo de Mayda. Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

For immediate release: atelier masōmī unveils a new site-specific installation titled Process at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale curated by Lesley Lokko. Conceived by Mariam Issoufou Kamara in response to this year’s theme of The Laboratory of the Future, Process delves into atelier masōmī’s architectural approach to reveal the inner monologue, inspiration and non-normative design perspectives that drive Kamara as she grapples with issues of design justice.

Kamara said, “Process is an echo of the past.” The installation narrows in on several precedents from West Africa, placing them in conversation with models of current projects like Hikma Community Complex in Niger and future projects like Bët-bi Art Museum in Senegal and the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center For Women and Development in Liberia. “I chose not to reprint source material but rather to reproduce it as large-scale hand drawings to make it mine, ours. The wall drawings are a homage to the Neolithic engravings I grew up visiting in the mountains and caves of the Sahara desert. Experiencing them so early in my life gave me a deeper sense of my history and its importance. Process is in some ways about taking back control of knowledge that belongs to us but that lives in books and museums far away,” said Kamara.

With Process Kamara wanted to critique who currently holds knowledge about our history and who has access to it, “As such, the installation introspects on how knowledge disseminates to those who have endured a process of erasure of knowledge, history and identity. It hints at global histories of power and domination.” Three videos, including Compressed Earth by artist Jennifer Hsu (which was shot during the opening of the Hikma Community Complex in Dandaji in 2018), take the viewer behind the scenes to offer glimpses into the context, inspiration, and people who are impacted by atelier masōmī’s work.

“The whole exhibition is the inner monologue that drives me as I struggle through issues of design justice. It is about how the work that emerges from my internal dialogue and critique does so across multiple symbolisms, geographies and temporalities in order to produce something of the present but also hints at the future.”

The 2023 Venice Architecture Biennial is currently open and closes on Sunday 26 November 2023.

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Note to Editors

About Mariam Issoufou Kamara

Mariam Issoufou Kamara is an architect from Niger who studied architecture at the University of Washington. In 2014, she founded atelier masōmī, an architecture and research practice that tackles public, cultural, residential, commercial and urban design projects. The firm’s headquarters are in Niamey, with a smaller office handling design projects in New York. Kamara believes that architects have an important role to play in creating spaces that elevate, give dignity, and provide people with a better quality of life. The firm’s award-winning projects include the Hikma Community Complex, Niamey 2000 Housing and the Dandaji Regional Market. Upcoming projects include the Yantala Office and the Niamey Cultural Centre. Kamara is a professor of Architecture Heritage and Sustainability at ETH Zurich. The New York Times named her as one of 15 Creative Women of Our Time. The firm has been on the AD100 list since 2021. 

For press information and more images, please contact:

 Neo Maditla

Communications lead | atelier masōmī

E. neo@ateliermasomi.com