Chido Govera, Koen Vanmechelen at Design Indaba Conference 2017

African Design/2017/28 min/Reel № 17.001

ByChido Govera, Koen Vanmechelen

Growing mushrooms in camel dung to raise planetary chickens

Inspiration Is Nothing Without Action/Recorded 2017

A close reading, kept within reach.

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The short version

Chido Govera takes african design as a lens on the larger question the festival keeps returning to: what design owes to the people and places it works among. The talk moves from specific projects toward a broader argument about practice.

Recorded in Zimbabwe in 2017, the conversation is grounded in Chido's own working method — the compromises, the constraints, and the moments where the work taught them something they didn't expect.

The closing turn is characteristic of the archive: less a conclusion than a provocation, handed to the audience to carry into their own disciplines.

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What did Chido say about…

Belgian chicken artist Koen Vanmechelen and Zimbabwean activist Chido Govera talk about the Planetary Community Chicken Project at Design Indaba 2017.

Chido GoveraKoen Vanmechelen

About the speaker

Chido Govera

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean activist and social entrepreneur Chido Govera uses coffee waste to grow mushrooms and provide sustainable income for orphans.

Koen Vanmechelen

Belgium

Conceptual artist Koen Vanmechelen explores the importance of biocultural diversity, identity and community in his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project.