Forms of Freedom

One of the forms in which the Nordic countries initially supplied development aid to Africa was by sending Nordic architects to help in the process of nation building. Scandinavian politicians believed the social democratic model could be exported, and the new African leaders wanted cooperation partners without a colonialist past. This exhibition documents the buildings that architects designed for the newly independent states of Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, and the ways in which schools, industrial estates and symbolic buildings have since been accepted, used, adapted or rejected. The exhibition was shown in the Nordic Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2014.

The exhibition is curated and produced by the National Museum in collaboration with the Architecture and Design Centre in Sweden and the Museum of Finnish Architecture.