Lagos Biennial Announces List of Participants In 2024 Edition

Lagos Biennial has announced a list of over 80 participants featuring in its 2024 edition.

The 80 participants from 30 countries will work in teams across four curated sections: Gregarious Architectures, CAPTCHA, Worldmade Communities, and an independent collaborative platform titled The Refuge Team.

Gregarious Architecture will host special projects and existing work that speaks to the biennial’s venue Tafawa Balewa Square and its theme Refuge in relation to the notion of building new architectures of community; curated by Egyptian art historian and educator, Sarah Rifky, and Lagos Biennial’s co-artistic director, Kathryn Wier, CAPTCHA will reflect on the strategies of taking refuge in plain sight. Worldmade Communities explores the role of cultural infrastructures in building capacities and alliances across Africa and beyond, whilst The Refuge Teams features multidisciplinary teams of participants from the third and virtual edition of the biennial held in 2021.

The participants and their artistic exhibitions include: Aliens In Eriteria – Gzoly Vishnu Balunsat, Rezene Tsegai, Shusan Tesfuzigta, Nahom Abraham Wael, Sephora Woldu, Maria Thereza Alves, Ivan Argote and Leo Asemota. A Thousand Tales – Cindy Sissokho, Monica de Miranda, XEXA, Deniz Bedir, Darlene Blackburn, Stephanie Brossard, Huey Copeland, Romi Crawford and the New Art School Modality. Data Centered Collective – Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Lisa Ann Parks, Laila Shereen Sakr, Miha Vipotnik, Samuel R Delany, Ezekiel Dixon-Romain, Navine G Dossos, Jimmie Durham, Victor Ehikhamenor, Chinenye Emelogu, Nina Emge, Em’kal Eyongakpa.

AIRI: Bone Altar exhibition by Olaniyi Studio, Yussef Agbo-Ola, Jermay Michael Gabriel & Justin Randolph, Thompson and Kendall Geers. Hanging Imaginaries – featuring Feda Wardak, Chioke I’Anson, Onyeka Igwe, Hiwa K, Sam Keogh, Kiluanji Kia Henda & Paulo Moreira, Francois Knoetze, Ibrahim Mahama, Bettina Malcomess, Native Maqari & Zineb Boujema, Demas Nwoko, Emeka Ogboh, Henrique Oliveira, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Mimi Onuoha, Odun Orimolade.

Outsiders – Martinka Bobrikova, Oscar de Carmen, Maria Alejandra Gatti, Anto Lloveras, Giulia Piscitelli, Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran, Tabita Rezaire, Yasmin Smith, Dima Srouji. The Albanian Conference – Anna Ehrenstein, Vidisha-Fadescha, Shaunak Mahbubani, Blair Opara and Clinton Opara, Rebecca Pokua Korang; Traces of Ecstasy – KJ Abudu, Evan Ifekoya, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Raymond Pinto, Temitayo Shonibare, Adeju Thompson, Srah Rifky, Valentina Vetturi, Tricky Walsh, Dana Whabira, and XTRAENCESTRAL – Kukily Afrofeminist Arts Collective, Julia Cohen Ribieiro, Florencia Victoria Gomes, Lina Lasso, Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald and Jasmin Sanchez.

Themed Refuge, Lagos Biennial 2024, to hold at the Tafawa Balewa Square, the site that served as racetrack during the colonial era, and as site for political, cultural and commercial events post independent, will explore the significance of the space in relation to territory, sovereignty, regionality and notions of belonging; in addition to exploring the concept of Refuge as a means to proffering alternative paths towards the building of renewable communities and fostering ecological justice.

“By situating Lagos as an international geopolitical nerve point and an international hub for artistic expression, the biennial opens a speculative space for the fabrication of alternate realities,” said organizer.

Founded by artistic directors, Folakunle Oshun and Kathryn Weir, Lagos Biennial 2024 opens February 3 through 10 at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos Island.