Tales of a Nomadic City
In 1958, there were five hundred people in Nouakchott. Today, more than a million inhabit the rapidly growing capital of Mauritania. This VR-exhibition, co-created with Nouakchott youth, artists, poets, and scholars, weaves personal stories, archives, and immersive sound to portray the city’s complex history and ongoing urban transformation.
In 1958, there were five hundred people in Nouakchott. Today, more than a million inhabit the rapidly growing capital of Mauritania. This one-week VR exhibition - shown in the CAFx Bank Vault - co-created with Nouakchott youth, artists, poets, and scholars, weaves personal stories, archives, and immersive sound to portray the city’s complex history and ongoing urban transformation.
As part of the CPH:LAB, long-term collaborators Mauritanian filmmaker Med Lemine Rajel and Danish anthropologist Christian Vium have teamed up to develop a 15-minute, first-person VR experience based in workshops with residents in Nouakchott.
Integrating contemporary everyday scenes, rare historical archives and an ambeosonic sound design, the experience reveals the layered and multifaceted history of Nouakchott, providing a remarkable portrait of urban transformation.
In this installation at CAFx, the VR experience is presented alongside material from the long-term research project Tales of a Nomadic City. Centred on Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania, and its peripheries, it assembles oral histories, vernacular archives, rare archival film and photographs, a feature documentary about the city, as well as a VR experience.
The material is progressively given form and published in books, exhibitions, and online, meeting various audiences and inviting people to revision the history of the city.
The exhibition is open from March 16-20 from 10:00 - 16:00