Friday 1 November to Sunday 3 November 2019. VIP PREVIEW: 2PM – 10PM ON FRIDAY 1 NOVEMBER
ART X Lagos relocates to The Federal Palace in Victoria Island, Lagos
Full galleries list and curatorial theme announced
Modern Art Section and Performance Art Pavilion to be introduced for the first time
ART X Lagos continues to expand beyond the traditional scope of an art fair
The newly expanded fourth edition of ART X Lagos – West Africa’s premier international art fair – announces its relocation to The Federal Palace in Victoria Island (previously located at The Civic Centre). Held between Friday 1 November to Sunday 3 November 2019, the move marks a significant step in ART X Lagos’ evolution, offering the fair a vastly increased venue capacity, with the number of gallery booths growing from 14 to 23, with several exhibitors occupying much larger booths.
The full exhibitor list for 2019 includes: Arthouse – The Space, Artyrama, Bloom Art, Mydrim Gallery, Nike Art Gallery, Retro Africa, SMO Contemporary Art, Thought Pyramid (Nigeria); Addis Fine Art (Ethiopia); Afriart Gallery Kampala (Uganda); Circle Art Gallery (Kenya); Ed Cross Fine Art (United Kingdom); Everard Read (South Africa); Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Côte d’Ivoire); Galerie MAM (Cameroon); Galerie Voss (Germany); Gallery 1957 (Ghana); Goodman Gallery (South Africa); LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Côte d’Ivoire); Out of Africa Gallery (Spain); SMAC Gallery (South Africa); TAFETA (United Kingdom) and Tiwani Contemporary (United Kingdom).
The Fourth Edition of the fair also sees the introduction of a Modern Art section, dedicated to showcasing pioneers of African Modern Art from the 20th century, presented by Stanbic IBTC Pensions. This section will comprise of three galleries: Bloom Art (Nigeria), Mydrim Gallery (Nigeria) and Gallery 1957 (Ghana), featuring artists such as Professor Ablade Glover (Ghana) and Uche Okeke (Nigeria), amongst other well reputed names.
ART X Lagos’ move to The Federal Palace allows for greater curated sections and an enhanced visitor experience including the introduction of a Performance Art section for 2019. The fair continues to deliver an exciting program of special projects, talks and live events, to a broad audience of collectors, industry experts, cultural practitioners and art lovers.
For 2019, ART X Lagos undertakes major changes in order to fulfill its commitment to providing a truly unique cultural experience for a wide variety of audiences, locally and internationally, going beyond the traditional scope of an art fair. For the first time the fair introduces a curatorial theme, Art in Life | Life through Art, which will be applied to the fair’s non-gallery programming: Curated Projects, the Performance Pavilion, and the Interactive Projects. The theme investigates how art and creativity influences and enriches our daily lives – whether socially, aesthetically, economically or intellectually.
Tokini Peterside, ART X Lagos Founder & Director:
We are delighted to announce the ambitious expansion of ART X Lagos this year. Our move to The Federal Palace enables us to deliver, at our fourth edition, a markedly enhanced experience from prior years, with the addition of new sections as well as the growth in the fair’s size and scope. We continue to redefine the boundaries of what an art fair can hope to achieve, through our curated and interactive projects, our Prize for emerging artists, as well as ART X Live! – all of which combine to showcase the very best of contemporary and modern, established and emerging, art and culture from Africa and the Diaspora. We are excited to see how our audience responds to these innovations, and look forward to welcoming visitors from all over the world to ART X Lagos this year.
Tokini Peterside, ART X Lagos Founder & Director:
We are delighted to announce the ambitious expansion of ART X Lagos this year. Our move to The Federal Palace enables us to deliver, at our fourth edition, a markedly enhanced experience from prior years, with the addition of new sections as well as the growth in the fair’s size and scope. We continue to redefine the boundaries of what an art fair can hope to achieve, through our curated and interactive projects, our Prize for emerging artists, as well as ART X Live! – all of which combine to showcase the very best of contemporary and modern, established and emerging, art and culture from Africa and the Diaspora. We are excited to see how our audience responds to these innovations, and look forward to welcoming visitors from all over the world to ART X Lagos this year.
The 2019 Full Programme
The Curated Projects return to the fair this year, presenting four exhibitions incorporating augmented reality, virtual reality, sound, installation, and film, enriching the viewers’ experience by expanding beyond the gallery booth format. Curated by the Fair’s Artistic Director, Tayo Ogunbiyi, this section will showcase artists both established and emerging, such as Emeka Ogboh, Joel Benson, Oumar Ball, Amanda Iheme, Nyancho Nwanri, and Ifebusola Shotunde.
Curated by artist Wura-Natasha Ogunji, The Performance Art Pavilion will feature a series of performances exploring the connection between art and ethics. Titled Small Acts, this section will comprise of three live performances by Nigerian artists Ngozi Schommers, Eca Eps, and Taiwo Aiyedogbon, developed specifically for ART X Lagos.
The fair’s highly sought after Talks Programme, ART X Talks, returns on Saturday 2nd November and Sunday 3rd November. This year ART X Talks seeks to offer arrayed considerations of the ways in which people live in and through visual art. Speakers this year include artist Emeka Ogboh, Antawan Byrd, Associate Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Senegalese gallerist and designer, Aissa Dionne, as well as celebrated curator and art critic, N’Goné Fall, who will reflect on the career and accomplishments of the late Bisi Silva.
The Access Bank ART X Prize, a platform designed to support emerging artists in Nigeria, has reached its final stage for the 2019 edition. Following a rigorous screening process by the jury, formed of Ibrahim Mahama, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Emeka Ogboh, Zina Saro-Wiwa, and Alessio Antoniolli (Director of Gasworks), five finalists have been selected: Ayomitunde Adeleke, Etinosa Yvonne, Christopher Nelson Obuh, Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu, Peter Ebahi Okotor who will all exhibit in the Access Bank ART X Prize section of the fair in November.
On Thursday 12th September, self-taught documentary photographer, Etinosa Yvonne, emerged as the winner of the Prize, who will win a cash grant of N 1,500,000, a three-month residency at Gasworks, London, in 2020, and a solo presentation at ART X Lagos in 2020.
This year, the Interactive Projects at ART X Lagos present art installations encouraging audience participation and alternative forms of artistic expression, curated by A Whitespace Creative Agency and exploring the theme of PLAY. Works featured include a collaboration between product designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello, creative technologist Desiree Craig and artist Deborah Segun, exploring the act of wishing, nostalgia and childhood through a virtual wishing fountain, and an interactive textile installation created in collaboration by artist Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu and fashion designer Bubu Ogisi. The Interactive Projects will be presented by 7UP.
In line with the past three editions of the fair, the penultimate night of ART X Lagos will again play host to ART X Live!, the fair’s one-night-only dynamic visual art and live music show. Curated by Lanre Masha (Music) and Faridah Folawiyo (Art), this year the show will celebrate some of Lagos’ most exciting emerging and underground mavericks. Artists who do what they like, with influences from all over, who don’t care to fit into boxes or classifications. The show, titled Making the Maverick will feature new commissions by visual artists Dafe Oboro and Joy Matashi, with live performances from WurlD, Lady Donli and Buju, with all music produced by TMXO.