A thousand and one nights

When a Senegalese immigrant without resources arrives in Barcelona chasing dreams or fleeing their country in search of a better life, the popular union of street vendors gives them their first blanket to display merchandise and begin to prosper through street sales. Accustomed as we are to defending ourselves against what comes from outside, this act of welcome and inclusion undoubtedly shakes our conscience.

The exodus of African people from their countries due to the plundering of natural resources, historical colonization by the West, and the industrialization of the world at their expense has captured the attention of the curator of the Architecture Exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale.

Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian architect and writer born in Scotland, issued an invitation to the international community of architects, artists, and designers to participate in The Laboratory of the Future, focusing on Africa with the intention of being agents of change. A necessary transition toward a decolonized, decarbonized world that is fairer to society and the environment.

With a few exceptions, many participants have avoided the topic, either due to a lack of constructive discourse, excessive vanity, or both. Among the exceptions is the Spanish pavilion in the Giardini area, which, under the theme Foodscapes (the landscapes of food), highlights how the cultivation, production, and transportation of food shape our world. This process generates factories of animal exploitation, environmental pollution, and seasonal farmworkers, mostly Africans, who work the land while living in conditions of shameful poverty. A brave and raw perspective that forces us to consider alternative models capable of feeding the world without devouring our planet and ourselves.

Other noteworthy proposals expose predatory extractive mining, though some are outside African territories. This includes two additional Spanish entries, Pilbara Interregnum and Xholobeni Yards, in the Arsenale exhibition area. The first portrays the Pilbara region in northern Australia, an area the size of Spain with direct access to the Indian Ocean, where uncontrolled mining activity occurs in a territory deemed “empty,” supplying all sorts of raw materials to the West while disregarding, exploiting, and mutilating ancient Aboriginal settlements.

The second holds a mirror to our civilization, showcasing the façades of New York skyscrapers treated with polished titanium to prevent dust accumulation. This mineral is extracted from the South African region of Xholobeni, leaving behind a fine sand residue that has blanketed an extensive populated area in dust.

In Barcelona, the street vendors’ union has created the legal brand Top Manta, turning necessity into virtue.

Other participants highlight similar aspects related to the excessive exploitation that the capitalist system perpetuates globally. Some African voices presenting the results of this territorial inequality can be found in the Central Pavilion.

However, it has been a marginal exhibition representing Catalonia, Seguint el peix, part of the so-called Collateral Events, that has decided to meet the challenge posed by the curator head-on. It begins by looking at what happens in our own home, right under our noses.

The blanket that Senegalese immigrants gift to newcomers in Barcelona sparks the narrative. Like a tale from One Thousand and One Nights, visitors are welcomed by a collection of magic carpets that transport them through the various stories immigrants experience on their journey to the West and in their daily lives among us. The first layer of the exhibition captures that frozen moment in time when, upon hearing the word “water,” vendors pull their blankets to lift their goods, transforming them into bundles to flee the police and avoid confiscation. A lesson in skill and adaptation that highlights the gift received by a novice street vendor. It is not just a blanket; it is a survival system against a society that criminalizes them and condemns them to a life on the fringes of legality. In Barcelona, the street vendors’ union has created a legal brand with the name that the public coined for them, Top Manta, turning necessity into virtue.

The title of the exhibition, Seguint el peix, refers to the reason Senegalese people are forced to flee their country. The international fishing industry has depleted the fish stocks that once fed the population. In a legitimate act, they reclaim what is theirs, forced to migrate in pursuit of the food that sustained them. This perspective unfolds in a second part of the exhibition, where curators Francesc Pla, Eva Serrats, and Daniel Cid, together with students from the Vallès School of Architecture in Sant Cugat, propose restorative strategies to dignify the lives of those who arrive in our land to settle. New community kitchens, extensive housing capable of accommodating a more flexible, communal way of living, or recovering backrooms in shops to encourage interaction and integration.

All this is achieved with very few resources: simple flying blankets and a handful of drawings, which would put to shame the creators of proposals featuring giant LED screens or 3D-printed models that denounce modern-day wastefulness.