(Rodney Harber)
The exhibition titled Rodney
Harber: Archetype Architect was curated and designed by Carol Brown and
Peter Engblom as part of the International UIA Conference being held in Durban
at the ICC.
Rodney Harber began his career as a young architect in the
1960s when South Africa was in the grip of apartheid. He
intuitively grasped the conflicted urges of identity expressed around him and
responded in his work with an attitude of inclusion and participatory design.
And yet the sites and types of his buildings are, however, also manifestations
of the same ambiguities that still surround us: rural and urban; African tradition
and missionary Christianity; the city and the suburb; Zulu and English; the
contradictions seem endless.
Ultimately, Harber has demonstrated an understanding of ”otherwhere”
long before the idea was ever created. This exhibition is presented as a walk-through
3D multi-media installation which gives the viewer an insight into the work of
one of Durban’s most admired practitioners and also allows a view into his
enormous influence on several generations as a writer, speaker, community
activist, architectural practitioner, urban planner and academic.
Rodney Harber:
Archetype Architect runs in the Durban
Art Gallery, 2nd floor, City Hall, Durban, until September 30, 2014. For more
information contact Carol Brown on 083 778 1192
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