It is around the theme « Refuge » that the 3rd edition of the Lagos Biennale will gather its participants. They are invited to reflect on productions aimed at solving the nebulous Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions, making access to care difficult for some, a factor accentuating social inequalities.
The problems that humanity is facing today affect more the local communities and their neighbors, it is within them and with them that we must examine the means to overcome them. It is in this logic that this edition of the Lagos Biennale for the year 2021 is being held. The deadline for submission of applications is April 30, 2021.
The Lagos Biennale is an artistic event that will allow us to refine the strategies necessary to strengthen community life, sharing and brotherhood. It is to remain in this line that it is required to the participants, proposals carried by a collective of artists and cultural promoters, or architects who focused their work on the reconsideration of the principle of the nation-state and the concept of refuge.
The various validated creations will be enriched by a documentation for publication purposes. They will also be used to classify the two previous editions, which will serve as an improvement, and will be presented to the public on the historic grounds of Tafawa Square, which will host the 2023 edition.
The 2021 edition in Lagos aims to rethink the extroverted model of reproduction, exhibition and organization of biennials in Africa. It will project the basis for a framework of consultation on political agreements and will re-examine the concept of sovereignty and belonging. To this end, no conventional requirements are imposed on the participants in order to put this event to the benefit of iterative productions.
The particularity of this biennial event lies in the fact that it privileges the realization of buildings or large-scale models that can accommodate or not, various artistic forms.
Sound, video, dance and performance productions are also expected and it is recommended that candidates take into account the material or visible nature of the exhibition.
Requirements for participation in the 3rd Lagos Biennale
Applications should include the names and biographies of:
- Curator(s)
- Artist(s)
- Curator / Sponsor
A shelter that can vary in size from a minimum of 50 m2 to a maximum of 500 m2
Entries should include
- A concept note (500 words maximum)
- Sketches / drawings / 3D renderings / photographs
- Web links to previous work or a portfolio of team members.
- and should be sent ONLY to the following email address: opencall@lagosbiennial.org
The jury will take into account the conceptual rigor that the artist brings to the production, its feasibility and interpretation in the conditions provided while emphasizing the concept of « Refuge ».
Applications can be submitted by embassies, curators, artists’ collectives (imagined states), national museums, national arts councils, arts councils.
The selection jury of the 3rd edition of the Lagos Biennale or « Refuge »
This jury will be composed of Kathryn Weir, N’Goné Fall and Kunlé Adeyemi, three great figures of different specialties. They will examine the applications together to decide on the selection of this third edition.
The selected applications will be made public in July 2021.
Kathryn Weir
Artistic director of the Madre Donnaregina Museum of Contemporary Art in Naples, British-Australian Kathryn Weir is a curator and writer living in Paris.
A member of the jury for the selection of artistic productions for the Lagos Biennale, the former director of multidisciplinary programs at the Centre Pompidou, makes critical analyses of technology, race, class, gender and the political environment that fosters the emergence of an exhibition.
The initiator of the platform for socially engaged and collaborative art practices is invited to cast her critical eye over the proposals of the candidates for this biennial.
Accustomed to critical vocabularies through reconfigured histories and geographies, Kathryn Weir launched the annual festival “MOVE: performance, dance, moving image” at the Centre Pompidou in 2017.
With her experiences, the former director of the Australian Cinematheque and chief curator of international art at the Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), will with her peers judge the quality, relevance and feasibility of the proposals of the registered applications.
Kathryn Weir is not new to this kind of exercise. She was among the curators of the 5th, 6th and 7th Asia-Pacific Triennials of Contemporary Art. Her background speaks volumes about her presence on this jury.
N’Goné Fall
N’Goné Fall is an assistant professor for the Cultural Industries Master’s Program at Senghor University in Alexandria from 2007 to 2011. She is a graduate of the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris.
Curator, editor, cultural consultant and Senegalese academic, N’Goné Fall met the art critic Jean-Loup Pivin in 1992, then became in 1994, the editorial director of the Revue Noire à vocation africaine, a position she held until 2001.
Author of Anthologie de l’art africain du XXème siècle, a work translated from French to English under the title “Une anthologie de l’art africain“, she has been a consultant to several governments on cultural policy issues.
N’Goné Fall has organized exhibitions around the world and is currently the general curator of “Saison Africa 2020“, an initiative to see the world from an African perspective.
She is expected to participate in the Lagos Biennale as a member of the jury for the selection of the best submissions.
Kunlé Adeyemi
Kunlé Adeyemi is an architect-designer and development researcher who has held several academic positions at many renowned institutions. He also collaborated with Rem Koolhaas for about 9 years.
Founder of the firm called NLÉ, which specializes in architecture, design and urbanism, he has led the design and development of major projects including the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Tower in China, the Qatar National Library and the Qatar Foundation Headquarters in Doha…
Winner in 2016, of the Silver Lion Award at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia, he is designated as one of the UNDP’s African Influencers for Development (AI4D) supergroups. He has served as a juror for numerous industry awards, including the RIBA International Award, the AIA Awards, the Venice Biennale Jury and the Rolex Mentor Program.
Aga Khan Design Critic in Architecture 2017 at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, along with N’Goné Fall and Kathryn Weir, he is called upon to assess the proposals of the entries and judge their feasibility in the context of ”Refuge” that the third edition of the Lagos Biennale offers.
