Art X Lagos: West Africa’s Leading Art Fair

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 of 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.

Not this time Invader II, 2021, John Madu

What to Expect at Art X Lagos

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.

Special projects at Art X

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 instalation 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.”

The Access ART X Prize

The Access ART X Prize returns in 2022, with a significantly expanded scope and remit.

The Prize awards early-career artists from Africa and its Diaspora with opportunities to develop their practices, with the intention of setting them up for the highest levels of success on the global stage.

The Prize, formerly open only to emerging Nigerian artists, has evolved to include an additional award that is open to emerging artists from all of Africa and its Diaspora, in a bid to buttress sustainable careers for a wider range of artists.

For the 2022/2023 edition of the prize one artist will be selected from Nigeria, who will undergo a residency at Gasworks London. Another artist from Africa and its Diaspora will be selected to undergo a residency at Yinka Shonibare’s GAS Foundation in Lagos. Both artists will be granted exhibitions at the ART X Lagos fair in 2023 supported by grants of $10,000 for their exhibition.

The Access ART X Prize 2022 will be judged by an esteemed jury which includes Alessio Antoniolli (Director, Gasworks & The Triangle Network), Dr Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Artistic Director, SAVVY Contemporary), Gabi Ncgobo (Artist and Curatorial Director, University of Pretoria), Maria Varnava (Founder, Tiwani Contemporary), Professor Peju Layiwola (Artist and Historian), and Victor Ehikhamenor (Artist).

The ART X Prize is sponsored by Access Corporation, the parent company of Access Bank.

For all press-related enquiries please contact Midas on:

Tory Lyne-Pirkis Tory.Lyne-Pirkis@midaspr.co.uk +44 (0)7765 503 053

Funmi Lijadu Funmi.Lijadu@midaspr.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

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)

About ART X Lagos

ART X Lagos was created to showcase and support the breadth of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Founded in 2016 by Tokini Peterside-Schwebig, the fair has since become a cornerstone of the African art sector. The first of its kind in West Africa, ART X Lagos goes beyond the traditional bounds of an art fair. Since its debut, ART X Lagos has grown to host galleries and artists from over 40 countries and has become renowned for its ambitious programme that includes ART X Talks, ART X Live! and specially curated projects which have featured an array of emerging and established artists from the continent and diaspora.

About ART X

ART X is Africa’s leading cultural management company, creating platforms and experiences that celebrate and amplify the breadth of Africa’s creative expression. Working closely with exceptional creatives and cultural entrepreneurs, the company seeks to develop energised, empowered and evolving identities for Africa through culture, taking inspiration from its homes – Lagos, Nigeria and Africa. The company’s flagship platforms include: ART X Lagos – the leading international art fair in West Africa; the ART X Prize – an annual award for emerging artists in Africa and its Diaspora; and ART X Live! – a dynamic launchpad and accelerator for Africa’s fastest-rising musicians and visual artists.