“Architecture is a political act.”
We met with architect Omar Degan, founder and curator of the first Pan-African Biennale, which is scheduled to be held in 2026.
“Africa has always been portrayed and defined through the lens of colonialism, exploitation, political instability, and migration. With this Biennale, we aim to shift that discourse and ultimately to shift the center of the global discourse on Africa. By 2050, one out of four people in the world will be Africans, which means that the continent cannot be excluded from any conversation that involves humankind.”
”The Pan-African Biennale challenges the pure conception of African architecture. I do not believe that African architecture exists. Congo is not Morocco, Morocco is not Cape Verde, and Cape Verde is not Ethiopia. Each of those spaces has distinct communities and unique architectural styles. The continent has more than 3,000 languages, an infinite group of diverse people, eight climate zones, and materials that vary from stone to coral on the coastline of the Indian Ocean, all the way to the earth architecture of Mali. So, with the presence of 54 partitioners, each one from one of these 54 countries, we will represent the entire continent.”
Omar Degan (b. 1990 in Italy) is an architect and the Founder and Curator of the Pan-African Biennale (PAB). His work examines architecture and spatial practice as cultural and political instruments within fragile contexts, with a sustained focus on identity, resilience, and decolonization across the African continent.
Through the Biennale, the first continental platform of its kind to bring together voices from across Africa, Degan is repositioning the continent as a producer of knowledge and cultural discourse. PAB challenges inherited Western frameworks and asserts a platform conceived, led, and defined by Africans, where architecture is understood not as an imported model but as a situated cultural practice.
Degan is also the Founder and Principal of DO Architecture Group, an international practice working across Africa and other crisis-affected regions. Bridging design, research, and curatorial work, his practice advances alternative social and environmental models rooted in local realities and long-term transformation.
Omar Degan was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in December 2025. The conversation took place at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark.
Camera: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Edited by: Jarl Therkelsen Kaldan
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond and Ny Carlsbergfondet. This video is supported by Dreyers Fond.
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