Nokubekezela Mchunu
Biography: Nokubekezela is an architectural researcher and designer from Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research interests include democratic public spaces, the use of cultural hermeneutics in design and equitable approaches to indigenous archival practices. |
Research: The objective of this proposal is to illustrate the spatial performances of social and political ideologies at the onset of global modernism, the period in which the project takes place. The case studies in which this premise is explored are two African states experiencing recent political transformation of post-colonialism. Specifically, I explore how they expressed these ideologies through architecture, spatial symbolism, and various forms of material culture that demonstrated their aspiration for and realisation of modernisation. Through examining both case studies, I am exploring how curated public displays and the interactions or performances that take place within them serve to confirm and activate their spatial, social and political purposes. Guided by the question, "Do the two social scales of spatial exhibitions bear any resemblance to or exert any influence on each other?", I am using modern era print media as a primary research resource to attempt answering this question. |
Keywords: South Africa; domestic interiors; exhibition; living rooms; architectural performance |
Contact:(opens in a new window) Nokubekezela.Mchunu@ucdconnect.ie |
Supervisor: Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty |
Recent conference papers:
|