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Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa, an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City through January 2, 2027, focuses on the architecture of seven countries in coastal western Africa. Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, Martino Stierli, will introduce the key tenets and curatorial vision behind this exhibition, exploring how architects and political leaders sought to Africanize modern architecture and the degree to which the concept of Pan-Africanism shaped a worldview that was at once cosmopolitan and rooted in the region's specific cultural context.

Architects of Liberation is the first major exhibition to examine modern architecture from the late 1950s through the early 1980s in the context of political independence in the region. Ghana gained independence from British rule in 1957; in 1960, the “Year of Africa,” seventeen African nations achieved political autonomy from European colonial powers. Visions for a future of unlimited possibility abounded in the period of political liberation and decolonization across the African continent. These events sparked a wave of experimentation in music, the visual arts, and, notably, modern architecture, which played a significant role as newly independent African countries sought to project a forward-looking, progressive, and cosmopolitan self-image

Speaker Bio:
Martino Stierli is the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. He is the author of Montage and the Metropolis: Architecture, Modernity and the Representation of Space (2018) and Las Vegas in the Rearview Mirror: The City in Theory, Photography, and Film (2013). At MoMA, he has curated the trilogy of exhibitions looking at modernist architecture in a global postcolonial context: Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980 (2018), The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985 (2022), and Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa (2026).

Co-sponsored by U of T's African Studies Centre.

This event is part of Understories, the Daniels Fall 2026 public program.

Photo Credits: 1. Centre International du Commerce Extérieur du Sénégal (CICES), Dakar, Senegal. 1971–74. Jean-François Lamoureux (b. 1943) and Jean Louis Marin (b. 1943). 1974. Photograph: Michel Fegyveres. 2. Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD), Lomé, Togo. 1979–80. Guy Durand, Yves Ménard, and Messan Raphaël Ekoué-Hagbonon. 2025. Photograph: François-Xavier Gbré. 3. La Pyramide, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 1968–73. Rinaldo Olivieri (1931–1998). External view. c. 1973. Photograph: Rinaldo Olivieri. Rinaldo Olivieri Archives, Verona. 4. La Pyramide, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. 1968–⁠73. Rinaldo Olivieri (1931–⁠1998). 2025. Photograph: François-Xavier Gbré. 5. Lycée Mamie Adjoua auditorium, Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire. Completed c. 1978. Jean Léon (1937–2002). 2025. Photograph: François-Xavier Gbré .