On Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January 2025, Framer Framed concludes the exhibition The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories with a weekend of talks, performances, music and celebrations.

Saturday, 25 January 2025
Cakeland Architecture: From Aqaal Somali, African Modernism to Anarchist Design
Hargeisa’s architecture remixes and layers modernist, futurist, neoclassical, Middle-Eastern, Swahili, and many other architectural/design styles to resemble what architect Rashiid Ali calls ‘architectural wedding cakes’. Cakeland Architecture: From Aqaal Somali, African Modernism to Anarchist Design delves into the intricate relationship between Somali architecture and its encounters with modernism, colonialism, the Indian Ocean, and how it is shaped by Indigenous design practices such as the Aqaal Somali. Historically central to the Somali lifeworld is the architectural concept of the Buul or Aqaal Somali, which symbolises home and community. Crafted from natural and recycled materials, this design embodies resourcefulness, sustainability, and local ingenuity, offering insights into how spatial practices adapt to climate, culture, and resource scarcity. The evening unpacks how architecture becomes a language of identity, resilience, and dreams, reflecting the aspirations and challenges of its designers. To what extent is it possible to imagine a future within an African paradigm, without reproducing capitalist modes of production and property? The conversation features The Anarchist Citizenship exhibition designer Rashiid Ali and architect, researcher, and curator Setareh Noorani, with a poetic intervention by Bilan the Poet.

Programme
18:00 | Doors open
19:00 | Conversation Rashiid Ali and Setareh Noorani, with an intervention by Bilan the Poet
22:00 | Doors closed

Sunday, 26 January 2025
Mending a Crack in the Sky
A day-long celebration of the storytelling, visual culture, architecture and social life that (re)shape citizenship in Somaliland, the Somali region and its diaspora. Artist Salman Dirir will offer a performance as part of his work Ruun, and sound artist and producer Elmi Original presents a special listening session bringing together his research on Qaarami music.
Bring your hooyo, family and friends, and make sure to come in your favourite diraac/abaya/baati to celebrate Somali fashion and textile traditions!

Programme
12:00 | Doors open
14:00 | Opening photo booth: Haye, Haye, Re-Fashioning a Photo Studio
15:00 | Henna workshop
15:30 | Performance by Salman Dirrir
17:00 | Conversation and poetic performance
18:00 | Listening session by Elmi Original
20:00 | Doors closed