Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Mass Design Group's Documentary Made In Ilima Premieres at Architecture and Design Film Festival

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- 14 November 2017
- Edwin Seda
Videos , News , archiDATUM News , African Modernity , Africana , African Modernism , Contemporary African Directory , Modern Africana ,

On Friday, November 3rd 2017 at 9:00pm, MASS premiered a new feature-length documentary film titled Made in Ilima at the Architecture and Design Film Festival (ADFF)in New York City.

In the center of Equator Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ilima community remains one of the most isolated in the world. They have coexisted with endangered wildlife in their surrounding forest for generations, but as the pace of development has increased, this fragile ecosystem has subsequently suffered.

In 2012 the community partnered with the African Wildlife Foundation and MASS to design and build a new conservation-focused primary school and community center. The school opened in 2015, with 99% of the materials sourced within 10km of the site, and 93% of the $351,727 USD project cost invested into the regional economy. The hour-long film documents the collective building process - one aimed at leveraging local craft and ecological knowledge towards education, preservation, and beauty.

Stay tuned for more information about upcoming screenings.

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