LAGOS.- ART X Lagos, the leading international art fair in West Africa, returns for its seventh edition celebrating artistic excellence from Africa and its global Diaspora. With 31 galleries participating in this edition, 2022 will mark the largest ever edition of the international art fair. ART X Lagos 2022 will be held from 4-6 November at The Federal Palace, Victoria Island, Lagos, while virtual audiences can engage on Artsy.net. The private Collectors' Preview and Opening Night will be held on Friday 4th November, with the fair opening to the public on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th November 2022.
ART X Lagos is both a catalyst for international cultural exchange and a platform for urgent discussions, and the 2022 fair will highlight the unique ability of contemporary art to inspire, uplift and empower, through this year’s theme, Who Will Gather Under the Baobab Tree? With careful consideration of the challenges currently being experienced in Nigeria, Africa and across the world, the 2022 edition of ART X Lagos will highlight the power of culture to speak to important local and global contemporary issues.
Through a programme of specially curated projects and conversations, ART X Lagos 2022 will encourage a series of dialogues on African histories, philosophies, systems of governance and more, interrogating what can be learnt from the past, as we contemplate the region's current issues, and imagine the future.
ART X Lagos 2022 will include ART X Live! - a one-of-a-kind live music experience featuring performances from some of the fastest-rising artists and musicians on the African continent, and ART X Talks - a lively panel discussion series. Previous editions of ART X Talks have featured an array of leading artists including El Anatsui, Wangechi Mutu, Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, Yinka Shonibare CBE, and Hank Willis Thomas. A full list of participating speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.
This year's ART X Talks, curated by Tobi Onabolu, will span themes including the building of equitable futures for Africans and people of African descent; the restitution movement; the politics of aesthetics in collecting, and more. A special conversation will offer an in-depth perspective into the career of James Barnor, the London-Accra-based photographer who has continued to grapple with themes of postcolonialism and identity for six decades.
The fair's Special Projects, curated by Bayo Hassan Bello, will showcase the diversity of African contemporary art in response to this year's theme, Who Will Gather Under the Baobab Tree?, highlighting artists who work across a variety of mediums. Ranti Bam, who works through painting and sculpture, using clay as a medium, will present a performance project "Sowing Seeds In Hearthland. In conjunction, the multi-hyphenate artist Victor Ehikhamenor will present the visual and sonic installation 'Ulin-nóifo, The Lineage That Never Ends' that evokes a study of the artefacts that have shaped the Benin Kingdom's cultural and political histories using bronze and rosary beads. Audiences will also be inspired by Senegalese-Moroccan artist Linda Dounia to contemplate the impact of the climate crisis in a digital artificial intelligence installation titled 'Once Upon A Garden'.
ART X Lagos is invested in exploring the ways that art may map progressive futures for the African continent, and hopes to sustain the optimism of previous years.
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, ART X Founder & CEO said: "As we navigate the challenges being experienced across Nigeria currently, set against the backdrop of the myriad pressures confronting other global economies this year, we are thankful for the catalysing role that art can play in our societies, providing the space for urgent conversations, whilst facilitating much needed economic exchange for artists, and cultural exchange with the vast audiences who draw from them. With our seventh edition we are proud to present a unique cultural program, backed by the participation of Africa and the Diaspora's leading art galleries and spaces, and look forward to sharing with our audiences at home and around the world, all that we have crafted this year."
Galleries At ART X Lagos 2022
Affinity Art Gallery (Nigeria), AFIKARIS (France), Afriart Gallery (Uganda), African Arty Morocco), Alexis Galleries (Nigeria), Art Pantheon Gallery (Nigeria), BLOOM ART (Nigeria), Borna Soglo Gallery (Benin), DADA Gallery (UK), Eclectica Contemporary (South Africa), Galerie Atiss Dakar (Senegal), Galerie Carole Kvasnevski (France), Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Côte d'Ivoire), Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière (France), Galerie MAM (Cameroon), Gallery 1957 (Ghana), Kanbi Projects (UK), kó (Nigeria), LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Côte d'Ivoire), Nike Art Gallery (Nigeria), Nubuke Foundation (Ghana), OOA Gallery (Spain), Pacers Gallery (Nigeria), Sabrina Amrani (Spain), Selebe Yoon (Senegal), Skoto Gallery (USA), SMO Contemporary Art (Nigeria), STEVENSON (South Africa), THK Gallery (South Africa), Tiwani Contemporary (Nigeria), and Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery (Luxembourg).
