The BLACK city Astrolabe is a digital database and a physical data sculpture. It is part of the special sections of the 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture located at the Venetian Arsenal.

Project Description

The sculpture consists of “points” and “lines” representing events and movements in settlements and cities outlining the African diaspora. “Within it [the sculpture], envision a constellation unearthing the lives of “Black” women from the 15th century to today. The Diaspora Map traces the flows of descendants of Africa (whether voluntary or forced).”

Role: Design and development of the digital database and its online website. The database documents the multiple spatial displacements of race and gender from the 15th century to the present. The physical installation is a data physicalization of the underlying events and spatial movements. It is a space-time visualization consisting of a 3-D physical sculpture that acts as a map and a 24-hour cycle of video narratives.

Press

The Black City Astrolabe is on exhibition at the 18th Biennale of Architecture in Venice: The Laboratory of the Future, 20 May – 26 November 2023. In collaboration with J. Yolande Daniels, Associate Professor of Architecture at MIT, and the MIT Black City Group.

URL: https://theblkcity.com/

Sponsorship

MIT Department of Architecture, MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and the Graham Foundation.