Building Beyond Lab Week in Mozambique

28 May 2025

The selected participants for the fourth edition represent diverse design disciplines, including architecture, urbanism, digital design, research, and performance art. For the duration of one year, they will be guided by four mentors: Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk, Ola Hassanain, Fatima Bintou Rassoul SY, and Hicham Bouzid.

Labweek in Maputo

The lab week, which took place from 26 April to 3 May, was co-curated with Ana Raquel Machava, a participant from the second edition of Building Beyond. The programme began with an introductory session led by participants Adam Yawe and Thelma Ndebele. Each participant and the mentors introduced themselves by bringing a small object representing a story related to them and/or their practice. These objects also served as a starting point to collectively reflect on how they experience the city.

The group started the week by visiting the Mafalala Museum, a community-based institution that stimulates critical thinking through art and the creation of cultural facilities. Mafalala is a well-known and historical Mozambican neighbourhood, that serves as the foundation for the museum's curatorial discourse, offering a perspective on the city viewed through its periphery. After the visit, the group was introduced to Joao Roxo, founder of Amina Studio, a creative interdisciplinary studio that specialises in deconstructing and reinterpreting symbols in the city. Joao introduced the group to creators he regularly works with: Nandele Maguni, Lourino Zandamela, Dilayla Romeo and more.

During the lab week, photographer Ildefonso Colaço joined the group capturing highlights of the week, but also to facilitate a session related to his practice and connection to the city of Maputo. Colaço is part of a collective that published Mozambique’s first urban art book, alongside Chonga Pessana and muralist Afro Ivan. The three of them led a powerful session on community storytelling through public photography and street art in Maputo's Unit 7. The session highlighted how art reclaims space, movement and identity.

The participants also spent an afternoon with collective Xada Baba. The collective hosted a pop-up event showcasing fashion practices, current collaborative dynamics, and the interdisciplinarity nature of local design and entrepreneurship.

A recurring element to the lab week is a networking dinner in context - in this case Maputo. At this year's dinner, the group was hosted by actor and performer Yuck Miranda at 16Neto, a creative and hybrid space located in the center of the city. During this dinner, interdisciplinary makers and cultural practitioners from Maputo were invited to meet the group and to activate interesting connections.

Towards the end of the week, the participants were hosted at Casa Velha by Quito Tembe; the Artistic Director of the KINANI International Contemporary Dance Platform. And Nelsa Nguambe; an established painter and product designer who also introduced the group to a very well-known Mozambican ceramic artist Reinata Sadimba.

The lab week ended at Cinema Scala, where Afrocinemakers' founders JJ Nota and Omar Faquira presented how they practice storytelling as a tool for cultural identity, activism, entertainment and survival. This was followed by a session with Wilford Machili of Maputo Film Festival, who shared his journey in building a sustainable local film industry.

Building Beyond Cycle 4

This is the fourth and final edition of the Building Beyond mentorship programme, including participants from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Libya, and Ethiopia. The group is working on projects with an overarching focus on collaborative community initiatives that reimagine the future of public space, community, and functionality within their own contexts.

For more information about the Building Beyond participants and mentors, please visit the Prince Claus Fund's website.