Earth is all we've got: inside Nairobi's space station

The recent joy rides to space by billionaires like Jeff Bezos seem to be a teaser for a growing obsession: setting up Mars as the next habitat for humankind. Or at least for the few who can afford a ticket.  

This leaves the rest of humanity charged with the task of figuring out how to preserve what we can from a planet ravaged by over-consumption of resources and adapt to a climate reality that is worsening by the day. 

Kairos Futura, a network of both established and emerging artists, activists, design thinkers and NGOs from around the world, is addressing this challenge through immersive experiences and training workshops they offer at 'Space Stations' in various locations. Through these stations, the network explores and showcases community-developed solutions aimed at building a sustainable future on Earth. 

The most recent station to launch, in Nairobi, features a collection of futurist works by a variety of local artists and creatives who emphasise the role of art in promoting social change and shaping the future of our cities. 

The Nairobi Space Station, which will be on display until June, is a partnership between Kairos Futura, Documenta 2022 first prize winner Wajakuu Arts Project and the Brush Tu Artist Collective.

FairPlanet spoke to Ajax Axe, the founder of Kairos Futura, and several of the artists featured at the Nairobi Space Station about the solutions they seek to advance through the project and the impact they hope their works will have on viewers and their communities.

FairPlanet: Can you tell us a little bit about some of the specific sustainable solutions promoted by the art works? And what impact would you like to see taking place on the ground as a result? 

Ajax Axe: Kairos Futura's initiative promotes the re-wilding of Nairobi's ecosystems and inspires young people to take action towards a more sustainable and vibrant future. By using locally available resources and people, we can prototype and implement solutions quickly and teach people to engineer their own cheap and creative ideas.

For example, in Mukuru , Abdul Rop and Willy Mg’ang’a are building an engineered wetland that is also a sculptural installation to clean the water coming out of the Ngong River - so that it can be used for watering the garden that Wajukuu Arts has created there. Wajukuu currently has to truck in all their water because the river water is too contaminated to use.

By working as a team, Rop and Mg’ang’a have been able to innovate their design for this mini-wetlands, and have been working side-by-side with community members teaching them the process as they build the wetland.

To the best of our knowledge, no other organisation has attempted to clean the river for community use on a local level.

While we’re obviously not fixing the massive pollution issues of the water system citywide, we’re offering an immediate solution for communities that is cheap and reproducible. Because we’re working in the field and not in labs or studios, we’re able to test our concepts immediately and get real-life feedback, which allows us to iterate much faster than most projects.

Another initiative we created is the Nairobi Cabinet. It has 67 water and soil samples displayed in glass beakers inside of a large, apothecary cabinet with the names of the neighbourhoods where the samples came from and the contaminants found in different samples written on brass plates that are part of the display.

We wanted to make the problem of river contamination and how it ties into socioeconomics visible for viewers. When people see the difference between water samples in different neighbourhoods, they understand the issues facing the city’s waterway’s viscerally - even if they wouldn’t read a 200 page report on water problems in Nairobi.

Our next step with this project is to give people home water test kits so they can measure contaminants in their own neighborhoods. Once this is complete, we will begin a citywide initiative with different youth groups to advocate for immediate solutions to river system contamination, including better sewage and greater accountability for factories dumping waste in the waterways.

"To the best of our knowledge, no other organisation has attempted to clean the river for community use on a local level."

Has the initiative garnered the attention of any relevant stakeholders, organisations, activists or leaders? How has it been received publicly?

So far the initiative has gained widespread nationwide attention in the form of articles in almost every national newspaper and several magazines.

Numerous organisations have reached out to us to collaborate, including AIESEC, Nairobi Design Week, Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary and a number of other arts and environmental organisations interested in how we're using art and immersive storytelling to make community challenges more engaging. 

Hopes for a more sustainably-planned Nairobi

What type of vision do you have for a 'future Nairobi' and how does your art convey that vision?

Wanjira Kinyua: One of my visions for a 'future Nairobi' is a city in which each neighbourhood has access to green spaces built by the community. When the community is engaged with such spaces, they are able to appreciate the role that plants and trees play in the ecosystem and not just see them as ornamental objects beside buildings.

With this project [titled "The Wrath of the Forest Spirit"], I'm highlighting plants and insects that are found in our surroundings. By making work that has plants and insects as the main subject, I hope it will emphasise the value the natural world around us and inspire people to go out and learn and appreciate the natural world around them.

Husna Ismail: I hope for a better planned city that can comfortably accommodate the population and promote the use of green energy and sustainable living. 

Both my installations [titled "Metamorphosis"] are cautionary and to get people to rethink how they use resources and hopefully restore and conserve the environment.

No trees - no communities

Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your wearable design and its environmental statement? 

Stoneface Bombaa: The Wearable Forest Helmets idea came from visiting Ngong Forest and imagining if those trees could walk out of the forest and into communities where there are no trees like Mathare.

The tree-mourning ritual was to recognise how we are torturing the few trees we have; how we are torturing mother nature and how that destroys our own community and ourselves because we need trees to survive and we are part of nature. In my community, a tree that was a gathering place died and it also destroyed the community because then there was no public space to gather.

The impact we are having by doing tree-mourning rituals with the wearable forest helmets is people begin to see and talk about what trees mean for the community. If we planted one tree with no ritual, no one would even notice, but when we're all wearing helmets and the rain calabash and in our suits - everyone notices and starts thinking about what a tree means for the community.

And that's the point, for people to pay attention to how the ecological destruction is impacting them and for them to care for nature and for trees to make the community better.

Abdul Rop: My backpack is made from aluminum and features cuboid and cylindrical aluminum containers, which are secured with leather straps. I collaborated with a skilled, local artisan to create the different components of the backpack, resulting in a one-of-a-kind design. I created this backpack specifically for the Nairobi Space Station Nomadic Futures exhibition, where it served as a functional and stylish way to carry indigenous tree seedballs and a gardening shovel.

But this backpack is more than just a practical accessory - it's a statement piece that embodies my belief in the power of local design to help restore our ecology. To that end, I incorporated a solar panel and small battery pack into the design, which power three small fans that keep the temperature inside the backpack at an optimum level for the tree seedballs.

By fusing design thinking and art, I hope to inspire others to consider the role that creativity can play in combatting climate change and building a sustainable future for our planet.

Willy Ng'ang'a: In a world where clean water is becoming increasingly scarce due to ecological collapse, the nomadic portable wastewater treatment backpack offers a sustainable solution. Fitted with a wind-powered mixer, a treatment chamber and a collection tank, the backpack uses cactus as a biocoagulant to clean and purify water on the go.

Living in a city facing the twin problem of water scarcity and pollution, I was inspired to comment on the possibility of using cheap, effective and sustainable ways to clean wastewater. Through this wearable, I aim to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable solutions, responsible resource use, and the need to address the scourge of pollution.

What types of workshops and other creative engagements will you be offering, and how can the public access them? 

Pernille Kjeldsen: Upcoming events include the launch of Terraform Mukuru, which will include a workshop on how Abdul and Willy created the wetlands. 

Another workshop at McMillan Library is called "Expeditions into the Future" with Ajax Axe and Abdul Rop. During this workshop, people will make expedition journals of what they see in Nairobi and use it to inspire their ideas for design and social innovation in the city. 

We will have a publication party and forest walk for "The Wrath of The Forest Spirit," Wanjira Kinyua's illustrated guide to plants and insects of the Ngong Forest as told from the perspective of a botanist two hundred years in the future.

All our events are listed on our website and posted on our Instagram.

Image by Ajax Axe.