BusinessDay 22 Oct 2017

C002D5556
34 BD SUNDAY
Sunday 22 October 2017
Arts
‘Art X Lagos 2017 will deepen Nigeria’s
connection to the contemporary art’
Riding on the success and world class execution of the maiden edition of ART X Lagos; the biggest art expo in Nigeria, Tokini Peterside, founder of the art fair, speaks to Obinna
Emelike on impacts of the fair on the Nigerian and African art sector, innovations/expectations for the 2017 edition and efforts at ensuring world class execution this year.
Why the project?
There are phenomenally
talented people
in this country, across
the various segment
of the culture sector; music, art, film,
fashion, among others, there are so
many young Nigerians who are aspiring
to express their creativity. And so,
we created Art X Lagos to support the
visual art sector, to make it clear that
visual art is an important component
of the creative industry.
The main aim is that we wanted to
magnify and multiply the patronage of
artists across Nigeria and Africa and to
inspire the next generation of artists.
We want Art X Lagos to be a platform
that will shine its spotlight on the industry
that shines its spotlight on the various
players in the industry: the artists,
the galleries and also encourages local
collectors of art and local art institutions
to support the arts.
Do you think last year’s Art X Lagos
lived up to expectations?
We are excited that we were able
to bring about 5,000 people to our
maiden edition last year. These were
mix of people from schools, universities,
researchers, writers, collectors, and
corporates circles.
It was great for us to see an environment
in which it was not just the
art collectors, though collectors were
there because without them the work
will not sell.
There was also a very rich audience
of people who came to be educated and
got the experience.
What are the innovations and expectations
this year?
This year, we are back with the art
fair. This year, we have 14 galleries
showcasing the works of artists from 15
countries across the world and over 60
artists participating. We are excited to
have a broader diversity of artists and
galleries. Last year we had them from
Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Mali.
This year we have in addition to those
four countries, Cameroon, Ivory Coast,
Senegal and the UK. So, we have expanded
the diversity and the countries.
We are also excited about the diversity
in our currated programmes; we have a
series of curated projects through which we
intended to give our audience a much more
enriching perspective this year.
Starting with Ben Enwonwu who many
people do not know, was born exactly
100 years ago. This is his 100th birthday.
Currently in a UK museum, there has just
been a massive conference on the work of
Ben Enwonwu as a pioneer modern artist
from Africa. This year, we are excited that
we will have opportunity to celebrate Ben
Enwonwu given that this is his landmark
anniversary because Access Bank; our gold
sponsor, is allowing us to be the platform
that will show for the first time ever to the
Nigerian public seven sculptures he made
in 1960. He made them in the UK for the
Daily Mirror Newspaper, but they were
eventually lost along the way for years.
They resurfaced at auction and Access
Bank bought them about four-five years
ago. Since then, they have been at Access
Bank head office and are incredible and
Tokini Peterside
phenomenal. These works have not been
seen by the public, so for the first time, the
public will see them at Art X Lagos. We
will get many young people who are not
familiar with the works of Ben Enwonwu
(even though they should be) to experience
some of the finest works of art created by
Nigerian masters decades ago.
Another area where we are also excited
is Festac 77. As we know Festac was held
40 years ago. We will be having a panel
discussion that will look into the significance
of Festac, the legacy, why nothing in
that magnitude has happened since then,
among others. We have Chimurenga, a
pan African platform coming to discus
and make a presentation. They have been
researching on Festac for several years and
will be publishing a large book on Festac
this year. They will be coming to spark up
the conversation on what is happening in
the art sector in Nigeria and Africa and
how to reignite that momentum that was
experience in 1977 across Africa.
As well, it is 20 years since Fela Anikulapo
Kuti passed on. So, we are working
with Lemi Ghariokwu in a special exhibitions
showing the album covers he did for
Fela and many of his untitled works that
have not been seen.
In addition to that, and to also continue
to inspire the audience, we have a number
of talk sessions this year. Peju Alatishe will
be speaking alongside a Senegalese curator,
and a Nigerian performing artiste among
others will be featuring in the sessions to
discus contemporary issues.
Njideka Akunyili will be speaking at
the fair as well. She is not up to 35, but has
garnered some of the biggest awards and
recognitions in the global art sector. Last
year, she sold her work for $100,000 and
this year, she sold for $3 million. Last year,
she was named by Financial Times as one of
their Women of the Year. Last two weeks,
she was awarded the MacArthur Grant
worth over $600,000 to further pursue
her dream. She is a very inspiring woman
and we want to open up her experience to
a very vast audience who can listen to her
when she comes.
We also want to encourage young artists
and talents, especially those who may
not be invited by galleries for shows like
Olatunde Alara a young 25 years old artist
who has recently been awarded the Art X
Absolut Commission. Absolut Vodka does
a lot of big things with artists around the
world and they told us that they wanted
to consider a number of young artists to
speak on social issues that concern them.
About four of them put in proposals and at
the end Alara’s proposal sailed through for
the fact that the discussion is a taboo in the
Nigerian and West African society. So, we
awarded him the commission, so he will
be producing a big installation at the fair.
It is exciting for us to give our platform
to young artists. For young artists who
are younger than him, we have the ‘ART
X Prize sponsored by Access Bank for the
most promising young artist each year. We
have narrowed down to the top eight semi
finalists, the votes are coming in from social
media and our judges will choose the top 4,
while the winner will be announced on the
closing day of the fair.
We have our art and music shows because
we recognize that there are a lot of
similarities between art and music in terms
of creative process and thinking. We invite
a small number of young musicians to come
and create a live project while working with
our live artists. Absolut is also sponsoring
this as well.
How has sponsorship been so far for
the fair?
We have many fantastic sponsors this
year. Last year, we had four sponsors. This
year, we have 10 sponsors .They include;
Access Bank (Gold Sponsor); Absolut (Silver
Sponsor); Stanbic IBTC Pensions, Seven Up
and Anap Jets (Bronze Sponsors); Chapel
Hill Denham, Lufthansa, Metro Capital,
Leadway Assurance (Sponsors), Ford Foundation
and other valued partners.
The Ford Foundation is coming onboard
this year to work with us on bringing what
we called the diversity programmes in Art
X Lagos. We are inviting university professors
from Nsukka, Zaria, Port Harcourt to
come, experience and get in-tune with findings
they will take back to their students.
We are also working with Ford Foundation
to bring students to the fair. The Ford
Foundation will be sponsoring the talks by
Peju Alatise as well. Lufthansa, the German
airline is supporting us with tickets because
we have a number of speakers. We are
grateful with the growing sponsors. It was
a bit of challenge last year because we have
not proven ourselves then. Last year when
we sought for funding, some corporates
said they are waiting to see what we are
going to do and how to come in. So, the aim
is each year we grow, chose themes and
subject matters that will resonate with the
broad audience, we want many people to
come to Art X Lagos to experience the best
art of our generation. We look forward to
the democratization of art and we want
many people to experience it.
What is the theme of this year’s edition?
We have a theme for the curator projects
and the talks. But they are connected
to the various anniversaries that I mentioned.
It is also connected to materiality;
another curator project you will see at the
fair. It either the artists speak about day to
day matters or using day to day materials
to tell the stories. It is not an easy theme to
describe. We look at the artists we wanted
to work with and the connecting trend.
What informs your choice of artists
that participate in the fair?
The truth is that there will always be
skeptics in everything you do. The truth
is that we approached people who have
open mindset to work with us. We are not
able to work with everyone, so we invited
certain artists to work with us. Majority of
the artists we invited accepted to come, we
did not encounter any artist who turned us
down. Those who we approached and could
not make noted that they were not going to
be in the country during the fair.
We are very fortunate with the support
so far from our artists. But also many
forward thinking artists recognize that that
Art X Lagos is a catalyst for the industry
and they are proud of what we are doing.
If there is any complain that should be that
the platform is not big enough to take all of
them at once.
Is art more appreciated now in Nigeria?
Nigerian art is appreciating in value as
much as African art at large. The appreciation
of art by Nigerians is also growing.
Nigerians love creativity, so visual is
now presented to them in a way they
can access it, it is becoming a lifestyle and
enjoyable now. Art exhibitions are happening
more often now than before and
the intrigue is that many young people are
attending these exhibitions and not being
afraid they will not be able to buy works as
was the case before now.
The art houses are now introducing
affordable art auctions. There many collections
of young people collaborating
in exhibitions now than before. As well
corporate appreciation is growing. Many
corporates are building their art collections,
supporting arts through CSR works, Access
Bank is a big one, they are supporting us in a
big way, Leadway Assurance, also have art
collection they are working on, but there is
still a lot of room to grow.