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UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, 2018

“I do merely listen, watching for a story, which I want to hear; While I sit waiting for it that it may float into my ear.” – //Kabbo, 1875

Spanning from deep time to the current, the evidence of natural process and man-made intervention frame the ancient bodies in this collection of engraved boulders at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Origins Centre. As an archive of multiple narratives around landscape, time and people, this exhibit design proposal introduces light, shadow and sound to the material palette of contemporary concrete and ancient rock. The collection is ultimately presented in a conceptual, immersive experience, blurring the boundaries between traditional archive and display typologies.

Taking advantage of the site as a public gateway between the city of Johannesburg and the university, the scheme also proposed a future-enabling plan that would transform the Origins Centre into a consolidated palaeo-science interpretive destination.

Collaborators:

Helene Smuts | David Morris | Parts & Labour | Hannelie Coetzee | linspace | Buro Comrie