Published in Elias Sime: Eregata እርጋታ, this essay by YAA Projects founder Nana Biamah-Ofosu explores the collaborative practice of Ethiopian artist Elias Sime and curator Meskerem Assegued through the making of Zoma Museum and its subsequent expansions in Addis Ababa.
The essay traces how Sime’s artistic practice, known for large-scale assemblages made from electronic components, extends into architecture and landscape through a shared process of making. Working closely with Assegued, this practice connects contemporary art with historic Ethiopian building cultures, from hand-carved stone construction to earth-based techniques such as chikka wattle-and-daub. The essay is informed by time spent in Addis Ababa with Sime and Assegued, visiting a number of these projects firsthand. the readings presented here emerge from a grounded, lived experience of the buildings and their contexts. At Zoma, buildings “emerge not merely as a form of shelter but as an expression of love, craft and dedication to historic building cultures and techniques.”
Across the three iterations of Zoma, from the intimate compound of ‘little Zoma’, to the larger museum complex and the expansive Entoto site, projects unfold through the creation of spatial ecologies rooted in indigenous knowledge and environmental care. Paths, gardens, classrooms and exhibition spaces are intertwined with the landscape, creating spaces where art, education and everyday life intersect.
Sime and Assegued’s collaborative practice demonstrates how building can operate as a cultural practice. Their buildings are “a practice of building with love”, a project that connects tradition and modernity while acting as “a love letter to a place—an unconditional act of devotion.”