National Museum of African Art Presents ‘24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos’

Mary Nnah

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art is partnering with Art X, the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF), the African Artists’ Foundation and Alára to bring together the U.S., Nigeria and African diaspora through the worlds of film, art, photography and fashion.

“24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos” will feature “Taste!” a multisensory, participative art experience at Alára Sunday, November 7, from 12h00-18h00 WAT (7 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST).

“24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos” comes during an ongoing explosion of creativity in Lagos and Nigeria and helps mark the end of Art X and the beginning of AFRIFF.

Curated by former Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, “Taste!” will include experiences by sound artist Emeka Ogboh, photographer Iké Udé and Ogunbiyi in collaboration with chef Renèe Chuks. Using sound, portraiture and food, the three artists question assumptions concerning culture, geography and identity.

The experience will culminate in a living installation in which many of the celebrities featured in the upcoming exhibition “Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits” and others become works of art by posing for photographs alongside Udé’s exuberant sets at the opening night of the African International Film Festival.

“24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos” is the launch of the National Museum of African Art’s global presence under newly appointed director Ngaire Blankenberg.

“Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits” will open at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2022.

The artists are Iké Udé, a Nigerian American conceptual artist who has been creating work since the 1990s that complicates notions of identity and perception; Emeka Ogboh, who uses sound and gastronomy to create installations that have included music, soundscapes, limited editions of artisanal beer, sculpture and collaborations with chefs; Renèe Chuks, a culinary innovator and entrepreneur specialising in combining local and diasporic ingredients to support more sustainable and empowering food chains and Temitayo Ogunbiyi who creates works on paper, paintings, sculptures and ambitious installations.