Month: June 2016

Arthouse Contemporary is pleased to announce its support of the Nigerian Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architectural Biennale, entitled Diminished Capacity, featuring the work of Nigerian artist and architect Ola-Dele Kuku, taking place May 26- November 27, 2016 at the Spazio PUNCH – Guidecca, Venice, Italy. Diminished Capacity marks the first time that Nigeria has had a dedicated pavilion at a Venice Biennale edition.

CURATOR’S NOTE:

Diminished Capacity intends to analyze a historical transaction moment with the ambition to rewrite history, starting from Nigeria to provide unpublished interpretations. In this condition, to rewrite history becomes a necessary evolution. The wrong reading of Africa transforms the continent itself into a country poised in perpetual opposition to restlessness; what is its identity in forms and structures? “Africa is not a country!” In that conflict, the first Nigerian Pavilion wants to prospect new methodologies. Conflict is one of the recurrent themes in the work of Ola-Dele Kuku. The architect–artist sees that as one of the driving mechanisms in our world, and as a tool to set change in motion. “Conflict has played a crucial role since the dawn of creation, from the stories of the Big Bang to the paradise of Adam and Eve.” Throughout his practice, Ola-Dele Kuku has consistently reshaped representation in a timely challenge. Working with drawing, installation, and objects, he has revisited the mainstays of architectural representational methods – plan, elevation, section – to inject unsettling slippages into their rigorous formalism. This new body of work fully embraces an analytical socio-philosophical slant that confronts complex issues such as resource depletion and their management, migration, micro and macro global changes, and the diminished capacity of countries amplified by multiple applications of manipulative strategies. – Camilla Boemio (curator, critic)

ARTIST’S NOTE:

‘The proposed project theme titled Diminished Capacity is a reflection of the contemporary global phenomenon of ‘Socio-Cultural Conflicts’, with specific focus on the role of ‘Information / Communication’ and the ‘Mass Media’. The exhibition will be presented as a reaction to the frictions of social communication and the mass media, vis-à-vis the notion of a unitary tendency of society and common values. The contemporary sociology of mass media communication reveals a consistent presentation of agendas rather than reports which are illustrated by selected interest in particularities, focus and oversight’. – Ola-Dele Kuku (artist, architect)

The Commissioner of the Nigerian Pavillion is Nkanta George Ufot, Director, International Cultural Relations, Ministry of Information and Culture. The Nigerian Pavilion is curated by Camilla Boemio, with associate curator Mr. Koku Konu and project manager Fabrizio Orsini. Colaborators and sponsors include the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Abuja Nigeria; Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Rome Italy; Arthouse Contemporary Ltd, Lagos Nigeria; KU Leuven – St Lucas Architecture (Int Master’s Programme, Gent, Belgium; LMS Gallery, Brussels, Belgium, and Phillipe Laeremans Tribal Art Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.

Exhibition promotion and communication is supported by Arthouse Contemporary Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria. For more information, please contact Joseph Gergel by email at joseph@arthouse-ng.com.

Please visit the website of the Nigerian Pavilion at www.nigerianpavilion.org

Arthouse Contemporary, West Africa’s premiere auction house, is pleased to announce the results of the sixteenth edition of its auction of Modern and Contemporary Art on May 9, 2016, at the Wheatbaker Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. Featuring 98 lots from leading modern and contemporary artists, the auction bought in a total of N176,524,500 ($882,623) during the evening’s sale, with 69% of the lots sold.

The top sale of the evening included Ben Enwonwu’s Obitun Dancers, an oil on canvas from 1990 that sold for N52,900,000 ($264,400), setting a record for a sale of Enwonwu’s work in Nigeria. Other leading sales of the evening included Yusuf Grillo’s Threatened Innocence, an oil on board from 1999-2002, that sold for N18,400,000 ($92,000), Ben Enwonwu’s African Dance Ensemble (1960), selling for N9,200,000 ($46,000), Ben Enwonwu’s Haze (1972), selling for N9,200,000 ($46,000), and Amon Kotei’s Untitled (2005), selling for N4,600,000 ($23,000). This edition of the auction also featured charity lots by Uchay Joel Chima, Obinna Makata, and Lekan Onabanjo, raising NGN 1,150,000 ($5,750) for Standard Chartered Bank’s Seeing is Believing, which aims to tackle avoidable blindness. Arthouse Contemporary’s auction was proudly sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, Wheatbaker Hotel, and Veuve Clicquot. The auction was led by noted auctioneer John Dabney.

Founded in 2007, Arthouse Contemporary is an international auction house that specialises in modern and contemporary art from West Africa. With auctions held twice a year in Lagos, Arthouse Contemporary aims to create awareness of the scope of contemporary art in the region, encourage international recognition towards its talented artists, and strengthen the economy of its art market. The seventeenth edition of the Arthouse Contemporary auction will take place on November 21, 2016 at the Wheatbaker Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos. For more information, please contact Sumbo Biobaku at 08055099096.