Rethinking the process of museum making, Michael Wolf, Founder & Creative Director, Formula D Interactive Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s biggest township, needs a museum to commemorate the area’s violent history of state-sanctioned racism, political activism and forced evictions. However, the precarious poverty situation in the neighbourhood bears the risk of resistance against any development that may not be seen as an immediate improvement of residents’ living conditions. To address this and other challenges, Michael and his team at Formula D interactive devised an alternative approach to museum making: By means of technology tools, service and interaction design, the project focuses on community engagement and collective oral history recording as a foundation for the new museum.

2. Oh, sweet memory of
South Africa.
Your
memory,
not mine!

3. Exhibit Designer
Business Manager
Art Director
Creative Director
Interaction Designer
UX Designer
Programmer
Producer
Game Designer
Product Designer

10. Photo: Cole Collection

13. Site

19. Vision

20. Vision

21. Vision

23. When I moved here from Eastern
Cape I was very young. I was
amongst the first people who were
moved to Khayelitsha. These are
very painful memories.
My mother tongue is isiXhosa.
Although I understand English,
I can’t read it well.
My Mom is working during
the day and my Dad is not here.
I‘m with Grandma Ela after
school. I love listening to her
stories. We speak isiXhosa at
home and English at school.
I learned some history at school
but I don’t know much about
Khayelitsha.
Grandma Ella
69 years old
Retired shopkeeper
Khayelitsha resident
Anele
10 years old
Pupil
Khayelitsha resident

24. Walk Through

25. Walk Through
Anele, when I was
a young woman, the
government chased us out
of our homes. We lost
almost everything …
Wow. This looks
like an exploding
house!

26. Walk Through This wall shows all the
rules the Apartheid
government made to
separate us from the
white people.

27. Walk Through

28. Walk Through

29. Walk Through

30. Walk Through

31. Walk Through

32. Walk Through

33. Walk Through

34. Walk Through

38. Walk Through