Listening There: Scenes from Ghana

Listening There: Scenes from Ghana By SideProjects (Mabel O. Wilson and Peter Tolkin) September 23 - December 16, 2009 An exhibition of photographs and videos by SideProjects (a collaboration between Mabel Wilson and Peter Tolkin), Listening There: Scenes from Ghana cuts a spatial and temporal section through the west African nation’s architecture, cities, peoples, and social spaces. Wilson and Tolkin's multi-media project explores the genesis and impact of modernity, from the hulking masses of coastal slave forts to the modernist architecture that signaled the nation-building agendas of Ghana's post-colonial regimes. As architects increasingly operate within an interconnected world, Listening There considers the difficulty of navigating across cultural difference. The photographs and videos tune into to the contemporary cultural resonances emanating from the cell-phone kiosks, teeming markets, and crowded thoroughfares of Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast. Opening night panel discussion, (Thursday, 9/23, 7pm), featuring: Felicity D. Scott, Columbia GSAPP Ikem Stanley Okoye, University of Delaware Peter Tolkin, Peter Tolkin Architecture Mabel O. Wilson, Columbia GSAPP Co-sponsored by The Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, http://cgt.columbia.edu/ This exhibition is also supported by Columbia University GSAPP, Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity Initiatives, and The MacDowell Colony. Drinks provided by IZZE Sparkling Juice.