Lab Project

Immuna Land and Ocean

Immuna: Land and Ocean is a mapping project that addresses the urgent coastal and environmental topics touched on over the course of the previous [A]FA Haduwa Apata lab. A fresh team investigated the dynamic territory of the coastline of Immuna, a small fishing village situated less than 20km from the Haduwa Apata on the coast of Ghana’s Central Region. The brief was to identify the transition zone between land and water and to speculate on the relationship between natural forces and manmade interventions. The aim was to map the beauty and the danger of the kinetic power of the ocean, and capture its spatial, environmental and social impact on the village, as well as its wider context.

Invited by Accra-based architect Gideon Djakumah, research was conducted together with his team. On a scientific and academic level, [A]FA collaborated with the Department of Fishery and Aquatic Sciences at the nearby University of Cape Coast. Urgent topics relating to fishery, migration, coastal erosion, sand mining, bio-diversity, waste, and plastics were investigated. Each participant worked on their own specific, self-defined topic, and expressed their findings through a suitable medium.

Workshops took place beforehand in Vienna in order to reflect on mapping techniques and become acquainted with field research techniques: for example, a day at the Danube during which the Danube acted as the ‘sea’. In Immuna, each participant worked together with a local inhabitant or one of the experts from [A]FA's collaborating partners. The two-week field lab ended with an exhibition that took place in one of Immuna´s ruins located on the beachfront. Dramatically affected by coastal erosion, this former house, as well as most of the old settlement, had already partly disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean. An installative piece on plastic; a collection of drawings showing local gods who manifest themselves in trees and stones and holy places; a photographic work on the presence and absence of fishermen in Immuna; a video piece on sand mining from a drone perspective; and a project based on sound recordings, were shown.

[A]FA’s work in the fishing village continued with the project Immuna: Nanotourism, which developed environmentally, culturally and economically sustainable proposals for Immuna. As a starting point, and based on the previous research, this lab speculates on the programmatic potential of soft tourism in partnership with the community.