Mariam Issoufou interviewed by Swiss Architects magazine on her practice and teaching at ETH Zurich
Ahead of Mariam Issoufou’s talk at Engadin titled Mind the Gap: On Museums, Architectural Fictions and the Future, she sat down with Susanna Koeberle to discuss her work at ETH Zurich, museums collections and our Bët-bi Museum project in Senegal, among other topics.
Below is a translation of Mariam and Susanna talking about her Engadin talk, which you can also watch here.
Susanna: Before we discuss other topics, I would like to address the motto of this year's Engadin Art Talks, "Bonds & Gaps," and your presentation entitled "Mind the Gap: On Museums, Architectural Fictions and the Future." In your talk, you question the concept of the museum. What if the museum and the "gap" are opened?
Mariam: I've always struggled with the typology of the museum. Growing up in Niger, I constantly heard people say that nobody in Africa goes to museums. They said people first need to be taught to appreciate museums as places of culture and knowledge. The way museums are viewed today is connected to their European origins. They were built to showcase the wealth of empires. The museum in its current form is a colonial project. I would even say that the idea of collecting is a Western concept. But if you don't have access to this cultural DNA and you carry a different history, why should you be interested in museums? This led me to question the significance of the exhibits themselves. Because not everyone in the world has the same relationship to artifacts. In the 21st century, we face a different situation. Because they are located in Western museums. A cultural alienation has taken place. People no longer have access to their cultural heritage: cultural continuity has been interrupted, there is a gap. Ironically, that's why we in Africa need museums to reconnect with our cultural identity.
This is where gaps exist in life. Another gap is societal in nature. These are different societal structures. I argue that a large proportion of societies on this planet are communally organized. But what does it mean when one designs a cultural and civic space that takes societal interaction into account? For example, our National Museum in Niger is a collection of pavilions spread across the landscape. This architectural form therefore makes climatic sense. The museum is popular more because it's a meeting place than because of its content. It functions like a village square. You can also find events with concerts or festivals taking place there.
The interview (in German) is available here.