Ola-Dele Kuku (born August 8, 1963, Lagos) is a Nigerian architect and artist of Yoruba origin. He lives and works between Nigeria and Belgium.
Ola-Dele Kuku studied at (SCI-Arc), the Southern California Institute of Architecture (1984 - 1986), in Los Angeles, California, USA and in Vico Morcote, Ticino, Switzerland (1986 - 1988). He also attended Architecture Intermundium in Milan, Italy, (1988 - 1990), for advanced architecture studies, where he collaborated with Daniel Libeskind on the City Edge project (Berlin), and the Berlin Jewish Museum competition.
Neglecting the end capabilities to itself, Kuku is quite fascinated by the study of proportion and create structures between the visible and the imaginary dialogue that put in the physical with the idea of empty space revolutionizing the common conception of living space and challenging traditional architecture dictates.
At this immaterial production Kuku also having more works related to the subject such as `Opera Domestica` a series consisting of furniture wooden sculpture that condense the structures and functions of architectural space in the object space.
Awards and prizes
Ola-Dele Kuku has successfully participated in numerous events and international competitions such as:
’Grand Prize - Prime Minister’s Prize' Award - IFI Nagoya International Design Competition, Nagoya, Japan, 1995
’License of Honour' Tech-Art Prize Award - Vlaamse Ingenieurs kamer, Antwerp, Belgium, 1995
Henry Van De Velde Prize - 'Prize of the Public Award' - VIZO at the Design Museum, Ghent, Belgium, 1997
‘Honourable Mention’ Award - Nagoya Do International Design Competition, Nagoya Japan, 1998
’Mention Spéciale pour la Créativité' - Biennale pour l'Art Contemporain Africain Dak'ART, Dakar Senegal 2000
Lauréat - SPES Belgian Foundation Scholarship Award (for artistic creation), Brussels Belgium, 2000
Politecnico di Milano, Italy (dept of Architecture) –'Home for the Muses’ (curator: Prof Remo Dorigati) 1990 - solo
Nagoya Center, Nagoya, Japan – ‘Teatro Dell'Archivio’ (curator: Julia Chiu) 1995 - group·
Lineart (International Art Fair 20th Century) . Ghent, Belgium – ‘Teatro Dell'Archivio’ (curator: Martine Boucher) 1996 – solo
Richard Foncke Gallery, Ghent, Belgium – ‘Circumstances as Consequence’ (curator Richard Foncke) 1997 - solo
World Craft Council, Hannover, Germany (Artistry in Wood) – ‘Objects’ (curator : Inge Vranken)1997 - group
Centre d’Art Contemporain Brussels, Belgium – ‘Detail’ (curator: Martine Boucher) 1998 - group
Nagoya Centre, Nagoya, Japan – ‘New Neighbours’ (Similar Differences) 1999 - group
Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden – World Crafts Council European Prize (Fossils & Icons) 1999 - group
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France – World Crafts Council European Prize (Fossils & Icons) 1999 - group
Temporary & Contemporary TenT Brussels, Belgium – ‘Celestial Mechanics I – VIII’ (curator Philippe Braems)1999 solo
International Biennial Design Festival, Sainte-Etienne, France – ‘Detail’ 2000 – group
Narodni Techniké Museum, Prague, Czech Republic – ‘Similar Differences’ (curator: Martine Boucher) 2000 - group
Teatro dal Verme Milano, Italy (Donation for Child Care Trust) – ‘Aftermath’ (curator : Victor Kanu) 2001 - solo
Middelheim Museum Antwerp Belgium – ‘Experimental Experience’ (curator : Nij De Donker) 2004 - solo.
Swish Art Fair Milan, Italy (Montenapoleone Art Shop) – ‘Objects & Drawings’ (curator : Vilma Redis) 2004 - group.
Porsche Haus Milan, Italy – ‘Objects & Drawings’ (curator Victor Kanu) 2004 - solo.
Torino Art Fair, Torino, Italy – ‘Living with the Fates I-XII’ (curator : Grazia Chiasa - Fondazion D’Ars) 2004 – group.
Galleria Mares, Pavia, Italy – ‘Ola-Dele Kuku Architect’ (curator : Maria-Angela Callisti) 2004 - solo.
Milan Art Fair 2005 - MIART off (Spazio CIN ) – ‘Ola-Dele Kuku Prototype’ (curator : Claudio Composti) 2005 - solo.
Galleria Luisa delle Piane, Milan, Italy – ‘Selected works’ (curator : Luisa delle Piane) 2006 - solo.
Musée d’Ixelles Brussels, Belgium - (Art et Histoire1906 à nos jours) ’Agenda Setting’ (curator: Martine Boucher) 2008.
FESMAN III, Dakar, Senegal ‘The Dakar Initiative’ (documentary video on visual culture) 2010 - solo.
Philippe Laeremans Gallery Brussels, Belgium - ‘Speaking in Vernacular’ (exhibition and book launch) 2012 - solo.
Design museum Gent, Belgium - ‘Similar Difference’ Installation - (curator : Bernadette De Loose) 2012 - solo.
7th Flanders Design Triennial, Genk, Belgium - ‘Agenda Setting’ - (curator : Kurt Vanbelleghem) 2013 - group
Nigerian Pavilion - 15th International Architecture Exhibition, 'Diminished Capacity' - (curator : Camilla Boemio) Venice Biennale of Architecture 2016 [1]
Ola-Dele Kuku has lectured and offered seminars at several architecture academies.
Politecnico di Milano – Faculty of Architecture, Milan, Italy
Institut Supérieur d’Architecture La Cambre, Brussels, Belgium
Technical University Delft - Dept. of Architecture, Delft, Holland
University of Lagos – Dept. of Architecture, Lagos, Nigeria
Berlage Institute, Amsterdam, Holland
Akademie voor Bouwkunst, Arnhem, Holland
Akademie voor Bouwkunst, Tilburg, Holland
KU Leuven - Sint Lucas Architectuur, Brussels, Belgium
KU Leuven - Sint Lucas Architectuur, Gent, Belgium
Matteo Galiazzo, Ola-Dele Kuku Antwerpen : ABC2004, 2005. ISBN 9789077362365
L’Arca n° 51 – ‘L’Utopia del Progetto’ by Mautizio Vitta, (Milan, Italy 1991).
Arch and Life n° 69 – ‘Opera Domestica 1’ by Marc Gossé (Brussels, Belgium 1995).
Noc n° 26 – ‘In the beginning’ by Julia Chiu (Nagoya, Japan 1996).
L’Arca n° 112 – ‘Opera Domestica’ by Maurizio Vitta (Milan, Italy 1997).
Kwintessens n° 1 – ‘Ola-Dele Kuku’ Profile by Christian Oosterlinck (Brussels, Belgium 1997).
De Morgan – January ‘De betonnen bonker van Noah’ by Farida O’Seery (Brussels, Belgium 1997).
Knack n° 47 – ‘Kasten als Kathedralen’ by Jean-Pierre Gabriel (Brussels, Belgium 1997).
Knack n° 13 – ‘Dromen Van Een Kerkhof’ by Max Borka (Brussels, Belgium 1998).
Trends n° 46 – ‘Leegte is de Drijfreer’ by Margot Vanderstraeten (Brussels, Belgium 1998).
Revue Noir n° 30 – ‘Nigeria’ Ola-Dele Kuku Profile (Paris, France 1998).
Feeling Wonen n° 09/0015 – ‘Sculpturen vol geheimen’ by Hilde Bouchez (Brussels, Belgium 1999).
Revue Noir n° 31 – ‘Project de Ville’ Ola-Dele Kuku Profile ( Paris, France 1999).
Vernissage n° 1/7 – ‘Ola-Dele Kuku’ by Mia Dekeersemaker (Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2000).
Object n° 16 – ‘Diptych’ by Hans Fonck (Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2000).
Passion Architecture n° 9 – ‘L’architecture au-delà frontières’ (Paris, France 2004).
Trends n° 20 – ‘Het denkende design van Ola-Dele Kuku’ by Sérge Vanmaercke (Brussels, Belgium 2004).
Trends n° 20 – ‘Le no nonsense d’un Yoruba à Bruxelles’ by Sérge Vanmaercke (Brussels, Belgium 2004).
Luxos n° 5 – ‘I pezzi unici dell’architetto Ola-Dele Kuku’ by Alessia Franchini (Milan, Italy 2005).
U Magazine n° 042 – ‘Ola-Dele Kuku’ U profile (Hong Kong, China 2006).
Area Revue n° 16 – ‘Desseins de structures urbaines’ by Alexandre Mensah (Paris, France 2008).
Nubian’s Magazine n° 7 – ‘La dialectique de l’ordre et du chaos’ by Roger Ndéma Kingué (Brussels, Belgium 2010)
Kwintessens Magazine n° 2 – ‘Ontwerpen voor Conflict en Chaos’ interview by Kurt Vanbelleghem (Brussels, Belgium 2011)
‘Speaking in Vernacular’ (Ola-Dele Kuku monograph), – Texts by Sara Weyns, F. Kehinde Oluyadi, Chika Unigwe, and Roger Ndéma Kingué (Brussels, Belgium, 2012)
`The Saga Continues’ (Ola-Dele Kuku monograph), - Text by Sara Weyns (Antwerp, Belgium, 2013)
`7th Flanders Design Triennial‘, (Conflict and Design) - ‘Agenda Setting’ (the running mean) - interview by Elien Haentjens (Genk, Belgium, 2013)
`7th Flanders Design Triennial‘, (Conflict and Design) - ‘Conflict Culture’ - Text by Ola-Dele Kuku (Genk, Belgium, 2013)
