ReCall & Response: A circular dialogue at the 25th Venice Architecture Biennale
Talking Hands collaborates on the creation of an interactive musical installation at the 25th Venice Architecture Biennale - Giardini della Marinaressa. This installation, titled 'Recall and Response', is a unique collaboration between Morgan State University (Baltimore, Maryland), Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, Alabama), Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Talking Hands and R3B. Led by Professor Coleman Jordan, this project marks a pivotal convergence of academic excellence, cultural heritage, and creative solidarity across institutions.
Morgan State and Tuskegee University, both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), have legacies deeply rooted in education as liberation and the pursuit of equity.
Today, this project is founded on a genuinely inclusive collaboration, bringing together a heterogeneous community of students and faculty: Americans with Nigerian, Bolivian, Burmese, Vietnamese, and Ghanaian origins, alongside African American and White American participants, creating an open circle of exchange and sharing.
This transcultural effort responds to challenges facing higher education and immigrant communities—marked by exclusion, xenophobia, and the erosion of inclusive spaces—through Recall and Response, a circular, interactive sound instrument that is democratic in both form and function. Rooted in call-and-response traditions, our work reclaims public space, amplifies marginalized voices, and transforms listening into a shared experience of presence, resistance, and joy, demonstrating how art and architecture can foster understanding across differences.
In an era often defined by division, this piece calls us to gather, respond, and co-create a new kind of dialogue that resonates with equity, empathy, and imagination.
Touch it. Play it. Become part of a living, breathing act of collective expression.
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MAY 10th - NOV 23rd, 2025
Giardini della Marinaressa
Venezia
“Interactive acoustic elements invite visitors to engage in a dynamic “call and response,” transforming the structure into a performative and communal space”. Coleman A. Jordan
Constructed using modular, sustainably sourced timber, ReCall & Response evokes the form and function of West African drums—symbols of communication, memory, and resilience. Designed for disassembly and reuse, the pavilion embodies principles of sustainability and adaptability. Interactive acoustic elements invite visitors to engage in a dynamic “call and response,” transforming the structure into a performative and communal space. Developed in collaboration with Morgan State University, Tuskegee University, Talking Hands, and R3B, the pavilion reflects a collective, transnational process rooted in cultural preservation and innovation. Digital storytelling, created with the Pan African Heritage Museum in Ghana, explores restitution, creativity, and the enduring legacy of the African Diaspora. More than a static installation, the pavilion is designed to travel and serve future community projects, reinforcing its role as a living archive and cultural bridge. Through material, sound, and story, ReCall & Response channels the rhythm of shared heritage into architectural form.
Students from MSU and Tuskegee University collaborated on the construction of the installation, and Dan Harding, now director of the Community Research and Design Center and professor at Clemson, worked on the prototyping of the piece. The textile component of the artwork was created by Talking Hands using fabrics produced by Uniwax, a historic Ivorian company founded in 1968 and considered one of the most important producers of wax fabrics in West Africa. These fabrics, characterized by vibrant patterns and made from 100% cotton, represent an authentic cultural heritage of Ivory Coast.
Work Team
Juden Adams, Andrew Bui, Amos Gambrah, Chanse Huff, Amir Mughal, Fernando Panada, R3B, Talking Hands, Van Thong, Jayden Woullard.
