Germane Barnes Ukhamba
Wednesday, 03/06/2024-05/26/2024, 12:00 am-11:45 pm
MDC's North Campus
MDC North Campus 11380 NW 27th Avenue, Leroy Collins Center, Building 4000,
Miami, Florida, 33167
Website
Cost: Free

Named after a type of African woven-wood basket, Ukhamba is a ten-foot-tall circular structure with four arched entrances, built of curved wooden elements stacked in horizontal layers. Its construction invites visitors to walk inside and congregate but allows the surrounding plaza and urban landscape to remain visible through the structure. Inspired by Barnes’s time working abroad in South Africa, as well as in Miami, Ukhamba not only responds to Miami’s sub-tropical climate but also unites architectural elements typical of diasporic communities of African and Caribbean origin. It comprises a pavilion that appears part basket, part traditional breeze wall.

Ukhamba is a space for reflection on our relationship to the built environment, urban design, its histories, and cultural memories. Barnes’s pavilion continues the artists’ exploration of themes of spatial identity, migration, the cultural influences of the African diaspora, and its contributions to classical architecture. Primarily using materials found in South Florida, the artist has focused on sustainability and has designed a structure in dialogue with the history and natural environment that surrounds it.