ART X Lagos “the restful ones are not yet born”

Join in from 4 – 7 November as ART X Lagos returns with a physical fair at The Federal Palace, and online till 21 November on ARTXLAGOS.COM where audiences around the world are welcome to experience works from 30 galleries showing over 110 artists from 25 countries in Africa and the diaspora.

These artists are represented by galleries showing in both the physical and online fairs including Afriart Gallery (Kampala, Uganda), DADA Gallery (Lagos, Nigeria and London, United Kingdom), Galerie Atiss Dakar (Dakar, Senegal), Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Dakar, Sénégal; and Paris, France), Galerie MAM (Douala, Cameroon), Gallery 1957 (Accra, Ghana and London, United Kingdom), Kanbi Projects (London, United Kingdom), LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery (Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire), Nike Art Gallery (Lagos, Nigeria), OOA Gallery (Barcelona, Spain), Pacers Gallery (Lagos, Nigeria), SEPTIEME Gallery (Paris, France), and SMO Contemporary Art (Lagos, Nigeria). kó (Lagos, Nigeria) will also unveil a special presentation dedicated to the late pioneer, Yusuf Grillo.

Other galleries showing online on ARTXLAGOS.COM are Circle Art Gallery (Nairobi, Kenya), Eclectica Contemporary (Cape Town, South Africa), Ed Cross Fine Art (London, United Kingdom), espace d’art contemporain 14N 61W (Fort-de-France, Martinique), ELA – Espaco Luanda Arte (Luanda, Angola), Galerie Carole Kvasnevski (Paris, France), Loft Art Gallery (Casablanca, Morocco), MAGNIN-A (Paris, France), Nubuke Foundation (Accra, Ghana), October Gallery (London, United Kingdom), Sakhile&Me (Frankfurt, Germany), Skoto Gallery (New York, United States), STEVENSON (Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands), THK Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa), Tiwani Contemporary (London, United Kingdom) and WORLDART (Cape Town, South Africa).

This year, the fair’s curatorial theme “the restful ones are not yet born” presents an opportunity to challenge projected images and clichés about the continent with reinvented modalities of our own presence in the world. By taking inspiration from archives of the past and our experiences in the present, the fair’s special projects and speakers at ART X Talks this year will share ideas that contribute to creating a more collective and diverse possibility for the future.

We are delighted to present a robust accompanying program including four special projects namely Future Africa – an exploration of the challenges that arise when thinking about the future state of the continent by David Alabo and Adeola Olagunju; Unfolding Layers of Time – award-winning artist Kelani Abass’ direct response to our curatorial theme; We Are Here which brings together the Kaduna-based film collective The Critics, and the Lagos-based sound collective The Village Sound System, teaming up with ART X Lagos’ daily audience to develop an interactive narrative space.

ART X Live! combines the best of last year’s blockbuster performance film with an intimate music showcase, with its artists being invited to think about the various ways in which their work has been subjected to a combination of influences, as they subvert Western art forms and make them their own.

ART X also announces the Access Bank ART X Prize 2021 Finalists. They are Chigozie Obi, Chukwudi Onwumere, Mobolaji Ogunrosoye, Nyancho NwaNri, and Omoregie Osakpolor. Read more about them here. As they move to name this year’s winner, they look forward to the outcome of the current prize winner, photographer Etinosa Yvonne’s, three-month residency at Gasworks in London, as she continues to craft a special body of work for her solo exhibition at ART X Lagos in November.

artxlagos.com