Dear AAF Friends, Supporters, and Colleagues,
June has been a month of traveling for some of the team at African Artists’ Foundation, first in Amsterdam to work on our FOTObook project, graciously supported by the Mondriaan Fund, and then to Basel, Switzerland for the annual Art Basel Fair and the POPCAP exhibition of contemporary African photography. FOTObook is an international exchange program between Dutch art book designers and emerging Nigerian artists that allows for an intensive study into the specialised domain of art/photography book design and e-publishing as a collaborative effort between artists, designers, typographers, and publishers. As part of the exchange, the AAF creative team spent two weeks in and out of the Netherlands meeting with leading art book designers, printers, and artists, forging connections and making future plans to bring their expertise to Lagos. These specialists in book design, artists and photographers will travel to Lagos in October for LagosPhoto, where they will lead workshops on book design and self-publication.
In addition, the annual POPCAP exhibition of contemporary African photography debuted in Basel during the Art Basel Fair, where the AAF team was on hand to talk about the work to the public. As part of our partnership with POPCAP, the exhibition will tour to Lagos in October for the LagosPhoto Festival. We were excited at the presentation and reception of the POPCAP exhibition in Basel, and the focus on contemporary photography on and about Africa. We look forward to working more with the POPCAP team in the future to continue the present contemporary African photography at international art fairs and festivals.
Back in Lagos, we have been feverishly collecting the proposals for the National Art Competition, which closed on 15 June. As in every year of the competition, we are pleasantly surprised with the complexity and conceptual depth of the entries, and we look forward to selecting our twelve finalists with a selection committee led by Prof. El Anatsui.
We also welcome our new interns to the team: Orlando Reade who is a writer in residence at the AAF and Nick Hagen who will serve as Curatorial Assistant.
As July moves forward, we have our annual LagosPhoto Fundraiser taking place at the Eko Hotel and Suites on 13 July, which promises to be as an amazing event as last year, with a live auction and refreshing entertainment. As LagosPhoto is getting closer, we also kick off our first LagosPhoto Press Conference in July, announcing the exciting things to come in this year’s fourth edition.
- Azu Nwagbogu, Director, African Artists’ Foundation
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PAST EXHIBITION IN REVIEW
Mediations: Recent Works on Paper by Uche Uzorka and Obinna Makata
Galerie 23
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
AAF Director, Azu Nwagbogu, and AAF Creative Director, Alafuro Sikoki-Coleman, were honoured to be in attendance at the closing reception for Mediations: Recent Works on Paper by Uche Uzorka and Obinna Makata, at Galerie 23 in Amsterdam on 2 June 2013. This exhibition marked the first time that Nigerian artists Uche Uzorka and Obinna Makata exhibited their work in Amsterdam, and African Artists’ Foundation was pleased to partner with Galerie 23 in bringing their work to a larger international audience.
Galerie 23 has been a great supporter of African Artists’ Foundation for many years, mounting exhibitions of past National Art Competition winners at their gallery in Amsterdam, and AAF looks forward to continuing our partnership in the future. As part of AAF’s International Program, which is aimed at exposing contemporary Nigerian art to a global audience, this exhibition marked the second recent international exhibition of AAF afterNigeria Now: Emerging Trends of Contemporary Art, during Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2012. Uzorka and Makata took part in both exhibitions.
Mediations presented recent works on paper by artists Uche Uzorka and Obinna Makata, two new contemporaries who are quickly becoming cornerstones of the burgeoning arts community in West Africa. Uche Uzorka and Obinna Makata are mixed media artists who live and work in Lagos. After attending the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and working as practicing artists in Abuja together, both artists have recently undergone residencies at the African Artists’ Foundation’s Artist in Residency (AIR) program. In these new bodies of work, Uzorka and Makata incorporate similar practices using drawing and collage to comment on the vast changes occurring in Nigeria today, including urban development, the population explosion, and shifting cultural values.
As the exhibition draws to a close, we are excited about the possibility of traveling the exhibition to other venues in the Netherlands to better expose these up-and-coming artists to a diverse audience.
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NATIONAL ART COMPETITION 2013
Identity: Who Do You Think You Are?
Selection Process is Underway!
As the official call for entries for the National Art Competition 2013 has come to a close on 15 June 2013, Nigerian Breweries Plc and African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) are excited to move to the next step in the selection process and choose this year’s 12 finalists to move forward in the competition.
The National Art Competition is an annual arts competition organised by Nigerian Breweries and the African Artists’ Foundation, with each edition driven by pertinent themes in line with current social issues. In its five year span, the National Art Competition has showcased emerging talent in such diverse mediums as painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, installation, and video art. With a focus on the processes of artistic creation rather than solely the end product, artists are asked to submit a proposal for an unrealized work. After hundreds of entries, twelve finalists are invited to take part in an artist retreat, where workshops by leading artists, professors, curators, and arts professionals allow finalists to flesh out the conceptual threads of their proposal and work together in a studio environment. The competition includes a cash prize of two million Naira for the first place winner and provides the artists national and international exposure and exhibition opportunities.
NAC 2013′s theme is Identity: Who Do You Think You Are?, where artists are asked to interpret the topic through a conceptual embrace of artistic practices. This year’s theme examines the status of the individual in both Nigerian and global society today. At this time in Nigeria, there is an ongoing debate about the value and functionality of our national identity. Do we persist with identifying with our state or tribe of origin or have we truly embraced the community where we have made our residence?
With vast changes sweeping the nation, including urban development, rising technologies, and the evolving social climate, personal and collective cultural identity are constantly in flux. How is identity constructed and articulated? What external forces come to define our understanding of ourselves and the world around us? What is the relationship between individual identity, national identity, and their position in the face of rising globalisation?
The Selection Committee will be headed by Professor El Anatsui. The twelve finalists will be announced in the coming weeks.
PRIZES
First Place | 2 Million Naira + Trip to Dubai + Solo Exhibition at AAF
Winner: Outstanding Concept | 1 Million Naira
Winner: Outstanding Production | 1 Million Naira
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UPCOMING EVENT
LagosPhoto 2013 Press Conference
5 July 2013
11 AM
Sky Lounge
Eko Hotel and Suites
LagosPhoto is proud to announce the first press conference of the year, taking place on 5 July 2013 at the Sky Lounge of the Eko Hotel and Suites. The press conference will include information about this year’s theme, The Megacity and the Non-City, the collaboration with World Press Photo, and the many events and programs that will make up this fourth edition of the festival.
For more information about the press conference, please contact Evelyn Aluede at 08189290330 or by email at ealuede@lagosphotofestival.com.
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UPCOMING EVENT
LagosPhoto 2013 Fundraiser
13 July 2013
LagosPhoto Foundation (LPF) cordially invites you to its 2013 fundraising dinner, themed “Observation No Be Crime”.
Kindly join us as we celebrate the power of photography and raise funds for the LagosPhoto Foundation.
Date: Saturday, July 13, 2013
Time: 8 PM Prompt
Venue: Lantana Room, Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos
Dress code: National or Formal Dress/ Lounge Suit
Highlights of the evening include a live auction of works by world renowned photographers hosted by Roger Woodbridge and musical performances by Blackmagic, Wura Samba and a host of others.
Tickets
N15,000 per ticket
N100,000 for a Table of Ten (10)
VIP: N200,000 for a Table of Ten (10)
To purchase tickets, please contact Evelyn Aluede at 08189290330 or by email at
ealuede@lagosphotofestival.com.
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PAST EVENT
POPCAP Exhibition in Basel
AAF team members Azu Nwagbogu (Director), Alafuro Sikoki-Coleman (Creative Director), and Joseph Gergel (Curator) attended the opening festivities of the annual POPCAP exhibition for contemporary African photography in Basel, Switzerland, in time for the Art Basel Art Fair.
POPCAP’ 13 is awarded to photographic portfolios detailing with African themes. Submissions to POPCAP’13 were judged by a panel of fourteen internationally sourced judges, including AAF’s Director Azu Nwagbogu. The winning artists, including Christina de Middel, Graeme Williams, Alexia Webster, the Anhua Collective, and Dillon Marsh, were exhibited in an outdoor exhibition at Basel, which will travel to PhotoIreland 2013 and LagosPhoto 2013.
The AAF team was on hand to speak about the winning entries and the annual LagosPhoto Festival, which has partnered with POPCAP, and spoke in a panel discussion about the state of contemporary African photography. We congratulate the winning photographers and the dedicated POPCAP team, and we look forward to the exhibition in Lagos in October
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PAST EVENT
Dutch Duc Awards
Dutch Doc Awards, the annual competition for documentary photography in the Netherlands, held its grand finale and announcement ceremony in Amsterdam on 5 June 2013. AAF team members Azu Nwagbogu (Director), Alafuro Sikoki-Coleman (Creative Director), Joseph Gergel (Curator), and Orlando Reade (Writer in Residence) were honored to attend the awards. AAF Director Azu Nwagbogu served as a judge for this year’s edition of the awards.
Photographer Jacqueline Hassink took the winning prize for her series The Table of Tower 2, which consisted of photographs of vacant board rooms. Kadir van Lohuizen, who has participated in past editions of LagosPhoto, won the People’s Choice Award for his series via Panam.
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AAF ABROAD
FOTObook Project Commences with Netherlands Exchange
FOTObook is an international exchange program between Dutch art book designers and emerging Nigerian artists that allows for an intensive study into the specialised domain of photography book design and e-publishing.
As part of the exchange, specialists in photo-book design in the Netherlands will travel to Lagos to facilitate master classes on book design and self publication. Reciprocally, AAF staff members traveled to Amsterdam for a two week initiation into the professional environments of design firms, printers, and the publishing community in the Netherlands, preparing and executing the publication of future LagosPhoto publications. As part of a two year project that focuses on aspects of art book design, the FOTObook exchange program will serve as a catalyst for a broader, long term program of the African Artists’ Foundation that brings leading book designers to Nigeria to share their expertise. FOTObook will take place in 2013 with major support from the Mondriaan Fund.
In the first phase of the FOTObook project, the AAF creative team traveled to the Netherlands to meet with Dutch artists, printers, and book design specialists, including Teun van der Heijden, Juul Hondias, Hans Wilschut, Magic Group Media, the Stedelijk Museum Bureau, ZAM Magazine, Otobong Nkanga, David de Jong, and Defne Ayas of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, among others. This exchange project will allow such seminal artists and cultural bodies to establish future relationships with our ongoing programs in Lagos. We look forward for the second half of the FOTObook program, which will take place in Lagos in October during the LagosPhoto Festival.
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LAGOSPHOTO NEWS
Teun van der Heijden to Facilitate FOTObook Workshop in Lagos
Teun van der Heijden, the prominent book designer and co-founder of Heijdens Karwei, will attend LagosPhoto 2013 this October to speak about his experience in art book design and publication. Teun is best known for designing the World Press Photo publications, Stanley Green’s Black Passport, and Kadir van Lohuizen’s Diamond Matters. LagosPhoto team members recently met with Teun in Amsterdam to learn more about his process and discuss future involvement. LagosPhoto is excited to welcome Teun to Lagos, and we know that the arts community will benefit from his expertise and feedback.
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LAGOSPHOTO NEWS
World Press Photo Exhibition Open in Amsterdam and Traveling in Anticipation for Lagos
The World Press Photo exhibition, the preeminent competition for photojournalism internationally, has opened in Amsterdam and has begun its annual traveling schedule around the world. This year, LagosPhoto is proud to have signed a three year agreement to bring World Press Photo alongside LagosPhoto, broadening the scope and breadth of photographic projects during the festival. The World Press Photo exhibition in Lagos opens 18 October 2013, a week ahead of the opening of LagosPhoto.
For more information on the Lagos exhibition, please visit the World Press Photo website:
Click Here
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CURRENT EXHIBITION
Nnenna Okore
Akaraka: What Will Be
Art21
Eko Hotel and Suites
Victoria Island
June 4 – August 15, 2013
AAF congratulates our friend, supporter, and LagosPhoto team member Caline Chagoury on her second successful exhibition at her new space for contemporary art in Lagos, Art21. Akaraka: What Will Be showcases Nnenna Okore’s recent sculptures and installations. The exhibition will be open until August 15, and is open Tuesday-Saturdays to the public.
Art Twenty One (Art21) is a brand new space and platform dedicated to contemporary art in Lagos, Nigeria. Located at the Eko Hotel & Suites, the 600sqm space is intended to contribute to and to solidify the growing art scene in Lagos, as well as position this great city as a major force in the international art world.
The aim of the art space is to present and promote local and international contemporary art, as well as serve as a catalyst for contemporary art projects and for the interaction of local and international cultural players. In particular, the art space will support local and regional contemporary artists, helping them grow and giving them the tools to position themselves in the local, regional, and international art sphere.
An unprecedented and unique set up in Lagos, the space is designed to make art accessible to a large and growing audience who will be able to engage with a rich and diverse range of contemporary art, cultural practice, and educational art programs.
Congratulations to Nnenna Okore and Caline Chagoury, and we look forward to the future exhibition program of Art21.
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AAF ABROAD
AAF Congratulates Ifeanyi Oganwu for Debut in Basel
AAF is proud to congratulate Nigerian architect and designer Ifeanyi Oganwu, who successfully launched his new work, entitled BULGY, at the Design Miami/Basel Fair this June, presented by Dutch gallery Priveekollektie. Design Miami/Basel is a global forum for design, bringing together the most influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world in celebration of design culture and commerce. Oganwu recently participated in the Designing Africa: Appropriating Culture, Mediums, and Meanings exhibition at AAF in March with his Double Agent Suite desk and chair.
AAF is also proud to announce that Ifeanyi Oganwu will serve as a facilitator for AAF’s Capacity Development Integration (CDI). He will serve as a creative mentor overseeing a group of students in the design and creation of outdoor displays for LagosPhoto Festival 2013.
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ART EXCHANGE
Nigerian Photographers Aderemi Adegbite, Adeola Olagunju, and Jenevieve Aken Attend Summer Workshops in Berlin and Paris
As part of AAF’s International Program, AAF has set up partnerships with two photography schools in Europe to provide emerging Nigerian photographers the opportunity to study abroad and develop their photographic practice. Photographers Aderemi Adegbite, Adeola Olagunju, and Jenevieve Aken will take photography courses at the Neue Schule (Berlin) in the month of June and the Spéos Photography Institute (Paris) in July. As part of a reciprocal exchange, three students from the Neue Schule will spend a month in Lagos working on their own photography projects and learning from the photography community here.
We sincerely thank our partners at the Neue Schule and the Spéos Photography Institute for giving these photographers the opportunity to evolve their photographic practice, and we are excited to see their projects upon their return.
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CALL FOR ENTRIES
SAVVY ART CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN
SAVVY Art Contemporary African presents the call for contributions for the fifth Edition of the SAVVY Journal titled: ‘At The Shrine’. This journal will explore the influence of music on contemporary art practices and map interfaces between visual media, fine art, and music in the African and African diaspora context. The title of this collection, ‘At the shrine’ is a reference to Fela Kuti’s Shrine Nightclub and concert venue; a cultural space and an epitome of a social sculpture. This music venue captures our vision of the links between visual expression, music, and critical inquiry.
This edition of SAVVY Journal is not intended as an anthology of music and fine art. Instead, we ask contributors to investigate where disciplines meet, how genres are demarcated, and what emerges from their various encounters, as well as explore the nexus between performance, fine art, music and technology.
Furthermore, this edition will explore and identify those artists who, using various textures and formats, work on this crossroad of sound and vision. Also, from a more general point of view, we are interested in reflections on how the encounter of image and sound in popular music has influenced culture and society.
For this edition, the SAVVY Journal editorial will be enriched by the following guest-editors: Dr. Hauke Dorsch (African Mucis Archives, Mainz), Ntone Edjabe (Chimurenga / Pan African Space Station, Cape Town) and Prof. Jesse Weaver Shipley (Haverford College, Philadelphia)
We invite essays from writers of all backgrounds – artists, curators, art historians, and theoreticians, scholars- not exceeding 3500 words in length, discussing the above mentioned or related issues.
For more information please visit www.savvy-journal.com
Submissions to: editoial@savvy-journal.com
Deadline: 15th August 2013
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CALL FOR ENTRIES
MUSLIHAT OK. Video
6th Jakarta International Video Festival
OK. Video is a biennial video festival held since 2003 by ruangrupa, a contemporary art organization established in 2000 by a group of artists in Jakarta. It is one of the events organized by ruangrupa to discuss the social and cultural phenomena in Indonesia and the international world within a festival with a specific theme. OK. Video is a part of ruangrupa’s Video Art Development division.
This year, OK. Video raises “deception” as the issue. OK. Video is trying to read, observe, and reflect the citizen (consumer) reaction in outsmarting the limitations of technology, especially video and moving images technology, that has been our focus for a decade. “Deception” goes along with Indonesian word “muslihat” and has the same meaning as “effort”, “tricks”, “tactics”, and “strategy”.
For complete details about the theme and submission requirements, you can log on to www.okvideofestival.org. You can also submit your work via the website by filling the application form online.
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ARTIST IN FOCUS
Fidelis Odogwu
This month, AAF had the pleasure of visiting sculptor Fidelis Odogwu at his workspace at the Universal Studios of Art located in Lagos. Odogwu has been a friend of the AAF since winning the National Art Competition in 2010. We briefly took him away from cutting and welding patinated metal to get some incite into his thoughts on art. “Art is documentation. We all know that art is therapy, art can heal a sick person. I am using my art to preach peace, it is a gospel I have to preach.” We were incredibly thankful for the opportunity to sit down with Odogwu and observe him work on his optimistic, abstract sculptures.
- Nick Hagen, Curatorial Assistant
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ABOUT AAF
African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and development of contemporary African art. Established in 2007 in Lagos, Nigeria, African Artists’ Foundation aims to encourage the highest standard of art in Africa. African Artists’ Foundation serves a significant role in art and academic communities through organizing art exhibitions, competitions, and workshops with the aim of unearthing and developing talent, creating societal awareness, and providing a platform to express creativity. By providing assistance to professional and emerging artists in Africa and support to international exhibitions and community outreach programs, African Artists’ Foundation views the contribution to a strong cultural landscape in Africa as a transformative element in driving social change.
African Artists’ Foundation’s 2013 exhibition program is proudly supported by Lufthansa, HSF Wellness, iGroove Radio, and Studio 24.