PART OF THE Fall 2023 ARCHITECTURE lecture series
"Performativeness" by James Inedu-George
About the lecture
We are in a time of urgency. A time when action is needed. We are at a precipice, and what we do now will affect the next century. This is not a time for pretty drawings with specific focus, or a time to discuss beauty. It is a time for radical vision and drastic action. The world needs it.
This lecture shall not be one about creativity and creative visions, but of certain historical evidence that leads to the creation of systems and a new type of house, all of which aid in the redefinition of architecture from a beauty seeking organism to a performative citizen, whose function is to enhance and amplify the performance of the environment. A performativeness.
Architecture has lived in a cloud of misunderstanding for the last 100 years, with arguments or excuses oscillating between the polarities of ‘less’ and ‘more’, which were Mies Van der Rohes angel and demon, each taking a place on the rightful shoulder.
We categorically state that the definition of architecture and its role have not been critically examined since 1923, and in the time since we have been forced to spend our time in reclusive observation of phenomena that in many cases needed fixing rather than observing.
No matter how the argument is framed, we are not journalists nor are we archaeologists. Our profession is a gamble, where we roll the dice on what the future might be, and go through the torture of building same in the present. These creations alter the path of the future and as such to be visionary is the most important trait of our world view.
This lecture will not serenade with tales of village life or meetings under baobab trees. No, absolutely not. If the world must be better we must begin to look away from these distracting nostalgic behaviours and develop a new way of seeing, that turns our problems into possibilities for solutions of greater ills. This is where traditional Africa comes in. The entire history of traditional African architecture is riddled with examples of such innovations where the problem is looked at directly and transformed into an elegant solution. This is what the world needs today. And this is why I am here, to bring performatives to you, to bring Africa to you as an offering for the spring board of the next great architecture revolution. The first in the last 100years.
Biography
James Inedu-George (Rolex Mentor and Protegee program 2017 Nominee) is an awardwinning architect that practices in Africa and Internationally. He serves as the design head of HTL in Nigeria. He studied architecture at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. His architecture is based highly on the mining of typologies from the current uses of the MegaCity, and the reengineering of global cities for maximal efficiencies with these typologies. He has lectured and exhibited severally in Universities and Biennales globally, some of which are: The University of Pennsylvania, Florida International University and the University of Florida amongst others. He participated in the 2017 FRAC biennale, exhibiting a 120-page manifesto called the interruptive manifesto. He recently was also the African Architect in Residence at the University of Gainesville Florida.