In the world of art, biennials, triennials, quadrennials, and other -ennials, serve as showcases for contemporary art, expectedly on a level that a regular exhibition cannot be expected to attain. The 2024 edition of the Lagos Biennial recently converged at the historic Tafawa Balewa Square between the third and the tenth of February in the heart of Lagos Island. As curator KJ Abudu explains, Tafawa Balewa Square - as a site, has evolved in its functionality and usage, as well as its significance to the political, cultural, and commercial landscapes of Nigeria. It has served as a race course in the colonial era, the ground for the ceremony that ushered Nigeria into its postcolonial era, a trade fair ground, and almost in certain alignment with this edition’s overarching theme of ‘Refuge’, a military stronghold in the era of Nigeria’s military government. This multifaceted site has witnessed many changes in National structure and chemistry, making it a fitting venue for one of Nigeria’s foremost art events.
Taking its theme in the word ‘Refuge’, this iteration critically examines the concept of the nation-state, drawing inspiration from events from Nigeria’s history like the Festival of Black Arts and Culture FESTAC '77 as well as the Pan African Congress in 1974. The Biennial endeavored to reimagine cultural legacies, beckoning participating artists and curators to laterally explore innovative conceptions of refuge, community, and ecological justice in a world that is gripped by systemic crises. Falling against the backdrop of global capital, the Biennial prompts individuals to reassess governance models and the impact they have on local, national, and regional dynamics. In the middle this discourse, the Biennial props Lagos as a pivotal nexus for l artistic expression on an unprecedented level, providing a platform to fabricate alternative realities, and draw on our shared traditional legacies and experiences to do so. Within this framework, 'Traces of Ecstasy', curated by renowned critic and curator - KJ Abudu, emerges as a poignant exemplar, epitomizing the theme of refuge through its depth-filled, transformative narrative and artistic intervention.
Traces of Ecstasy functions as an architectural pavilion, art exhibition, and symposium. Tying in with the theme of ‘Refuge’, Traces of Ecstacy is a peculiar structure. This feat of design, architecture and socio-cultural artistic consciousness premiered at the Biennial. The design of the structure assumes overlapping curvilinear facades in reference to the recursive, fractal geometries typical of historical African indigenous space-making practices, and also contemporary makeshift architectures. The structure is made up of regular concrete bricks, aligned with wooden supports to form what KJ refers to as a breeze-block pattern, further spying homage to postcolonial modernist buildings erected during the era of the mid-twentieth century African decolonization movements. ‘Traces of Ecstasy’ as a title is derived from the title of an essay by exiled British-Nigerian artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode, whose photographic renderings have been known to synthesize Yoruba ritualistic practice and transgressive eroticism to subvert the deceptive colonial ideas of nationality and positivist rationality. The pavilion also featured interactive installations by Raymond Pinto.
The structure, which is composed of more than just bricks, wood, and other building materials is a sculptural composite of features that express a spatial understanding of what refuge may be for Nigerians and Africans. At the same time, the pavilion provokes a critical engagement with our realities and our future, taking you beyond the surrounding site. The site achieves all of this thanks to a team of contributors including Nolan Oswald Dennis dealing with the construction materials as well as the interactive digital essay-game - ‘Black Earth Corpus’ situated at the innermost chamber of the pavilion, Evan Ifekoya handling the sound installation titled ‘Three States of Water: The Flood’ which incorporates sound to allude to the changing states of Nigeria as a colonial/postcolonial state, Adeju Thompson and the Lagos Space Programme providing indigo-dyed textiles, or àdìre, strewn strategically around the structure in different dimensions for effect, and Temitayo Shonibare’s multichannel video installation ‘By Divine Decree!’, an intentional cacophony of seemingly disparate audio and visual media, creating an effect that takes you through Nigeria’s evolution up to the fourth republic in a most unorthodox manner.
The curatorial project, designed to be a meticulous and critical response to the historical ghosts of events past that Tafawa Balewa Square has served as the venue for, aims to deconstruct the colonial-capitalist power structures that continue to sustain and replicate the ideological legitimacy of the nation-state in post/neocolonial Africa and even the wider world. In summary, ‘Traces of Ecstasy’ is a step in the direction of a future horizon marked by decolonial liberation, shedding light on alternate, indeterminate forms of African collectivity for the twenty-first century.
In the world of art, biennials, triennials, quadrennials, and other -ennials, serve as showcases for contemporary art, expectedly on a level that a regular exhibition cannot be expected to attain. The 2024 edition of the Lagos Biennial recently converged at the historic Tafawa Balewa Square between the third and the tenth of February in the heart of Lagos Island. As curator KJ Abudu explains, Tafawa Balewa Square - as a site, has evolved in its functionality and usage, as well as its significance to the political, cultural, and commercial landscapes of Nigeria. It has served as a race course in the colonial era, the ground for the ceremony that ushered Nigeria into its postcolonial era, a trade fair ground, and almost in certain alignment with this edition’s overarching theme of ‘Refuge’, a military stronghold in the era of Nigeria’s military government. This multifaceted site has witnessed many changes in National structure and chemistry, making it a fitting venue for one of Nigeria’s foremost art events.
Taking its theme in the word ‘Refuge’, this iteration critically examines the concept of the nation-state, drawing inspiration from events from Nigeria’s history like the Festival of Black Arts and Culture FESTAC '77 as well as the Pan African Congress in 1974. The Biennial endeavored to reimagine cultural legacies, beckoning participating artists and curators to laterally explore innovative conceptions of refuge, community, and ecological justice in a world that is gripped by systemic crises. Falling against the backdrop of global capital, the Biennial prompts individuals to reassess governance models and the impact they have on local, national, and regional dynamics. In the middle this discourse, the Biennial props Lagos as a pivotal nexus for l artistic expression on an unprecedented level, providing a platform to fabricate alternative realities, and draw on our shared traditional legacies and experiences to do so. Within this framework, 'Traces of Ecstasy', curated by renowned critic and curator - KJ Abudu, emerges as a poignant exemplar, epitomizing the theme of refuge through its depth-filled, transformative narrative and artistic intervention.
Traces of Ecstasy functions as an architectural pavilion, art exhibition, and symposium. Tying in with the theme of ‘Refuge’, Traces of Ecstacy is a peculiar structure. This feat of design, architecture and socio-cultural artistic consciousness premiered at the Biennial. The design of the structure assumes overlapping curvilinear facades in reference to the recursive, fractal geometries typical of historical African indigenous space-making practices, and also contemporary makeshift architectures. The structure is made up of regular concrete bricks, aligned with wooden supports to form what KJ refers to as a breeze-block pattern, further spying homage to postcolonial modernist buildings erected during the era of the mid-twentieth century African decolonization movements. ‘Traces of Ecstasy’ as a title is derived from the title of an essay by exiled British-Nigerian artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode, whose photographic renderings have been known to synthesize Yoruba ritualistic practice and transgressive eroticism to subvert the deceptive colonial ideas of nationality and positivist rationality. The pavilion also featured interactive installations by Raymond Pinto.
The structure, which is composed of more than just bricks, wood, and other building materials is a sculptural composite of features that express a spatial understanding of what refuge may be for Nigerians and Africans. At the same time, the pavilion provokes a critical engagement with our realities and our future, taking you beyond the surrounding site. The site achieves all of this thanks to a team of contributors including Nolan Oswald Dennis dealing with the construction materials as well as the interactive digital essay-game - ‘Black Earth Corpus’ situated at the innermost chamber of the pavilion, Evan Ifekoya handling the sound installation titled ‘Three States of Water: The Flood’ which incorporates sound to allude to the changing states of Nigeria as a colonial/postcolonial state, Adeju Thompson and the Lagos Space Programme providing indigo-dyed textiles, or àdìre, strewn strategically around the structure in different dimensions for effect, and Temitayo Shonibare’s multichannel video installation ‘By Divine Decree!’, an intentional cacophony of seemingly disparate audio and visual media, creating an effect that takes you through Nigeria’s evolution up to the fourth republic in a most unorthodox manner.
The curatorial project, designed to be a meticulous and critical response to the historical ghosts of events past that Tafawa Balewa Square has served as the venue for, aims to deconstruct the colonial-capitalist power structures that continue to sustain and replicate the ideological legitimacy of the nation-state in post/neocolonial Africa and even the wider world. In summary, ‘Traces of Ecstasy’ is a step in the direction of a future horizon marked by decolonial liberation, shedding light on alternate, indeterminate forms of African collectivity for the twenty-first century.
