Ngaire Blankenberg A Taste of Smithsonian Experience in Lagos

Ngaire Blankenberg A Taste of Smithsonian Experience in Lagos

The new director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art (NMAfA) in Washington DC, Ngaire Blankenberg who led a team that brought the ‘Taste! 24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos’ project to the city has revealed her plans for globalizing African Arts in an exclusive interview with Yinka Olatunbosun.

Ngaire Blankenberg’s excitement is infectious even behind the mask. The newly appointed director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art had just arrived in one of Africa’s largest creative destinations- Lagos just in time for the season of art resurgence. West Africa’s largest art fair, Art X Lagos, the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF), the LagosPhoto Festival were all running in succession and it was just fitting to throw in the Smithsonian energy in the mix.

Blankenberg thinks Lagos is the buzz place for arts. Hence, she embarked on her first stop at the city that never really sleeps. Called the “Taste! 24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos,’’ it was a collaborative as well as interactive art experience which brought together visual, conceptual and performing artists. Curated by a former Smithsonian Art Research Fellow, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, it featured sound art by Emeka Ogboh, photography and masterclasses by Ike Ude while Ogunbiyi collaborated with Chef Renee Chuks for the food art.

With warm smiles, the new director met influencers, Nollywood stars and of course THISDAY. After her appointment in July, she has been working to position NMAfA as a more international institution that serves the global African audience alongside the large African community in DC.

“One of things that started this conversation is that we have an exhibition opening in February 5, 2022 called Nollywood Portraits and the artist Ike Ude is presenting his works. We are connected to Lagos because of that exhibition. We have several board members from here and we just thought- this is a great place for us to start. We are listening and we are here to collaborate with artists and institutions in Lagos, Nigeria and on the continent. We are really looking forward to partnerships together for a couple of reasons. One is that we really want to support growing ecology of artists and everything that comes along with them. There are artists that can be supported: institutional support not necessarily commercial support. We want to provide platforms, conversations and opportunities as well as encounters between artists, people and institutions,’’ she revealed.

Diving into the varied nature of the art experience from the Smithsonian outlook, Blankenberg offered a wide angle to art perception. She explained the changing nature of museums across the world and why it is critical that the art projects resonate with a wider range of audience. These ones can understand and relate to the subject matters and themes raised in the body of works.

“We are working with our artists to ensure that it is an experience and an engagement where people don’t have to feel stupid. When you look at Emeka’s works, in soundscapes of Lagos, all these state experiences are all about the senses. He inserts Lagos in different venues around the world and when you listen to the sounds of the city, you have a totally different experience.

“Tayo’s works are phenomenal. She looks at botanicals and works a lot with farmers, agricultural producers and a chef to create a taste. It is about what you remember when you taste. It is also very challenging. All the ingredients that we are working with are all Nigerian,’’ she explained with enthusiasm.
While responding to the fears that the Smithsonian experience may be targeting more Nigerian artists in diaspora, Blankenberg who hails from South Africa said that the Smithsonian experience actually targets all African artists both on the continent and at large.

“I mean we as Africans move around and live in different places. It doesn’t make us any less African but it is also important that we understand and support the things that are happening here as well so that we can have an equitable exchange. This is why we are here. We are not launching this in DC or in the diaspora. We are here in Lagos. I haven’t done any direct interviews since I joined the Smithsonian in July. I wanted to talk about the future here on the continent,’’ she said.

Blankenberg began her career in television and documentary production before focusing on how museums are managed. Born in Winnipeg, she has lived in several places across the globe including Canada, New Zealand, Africa, and Europe.

As a consultant, Blankenberg has an international portfolio comprising large and small institutions including the National Gallery of Canada, Superblue of New York/Miami, the Museum and Archive of the Constitution at the Hill (Johannesburg), and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Blankenberg holds a master of arts degree in media and cultural studies from the University of Natal, in Durban, South Africa, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

It was quite gratifying how the trained journalist spoke passionately about the interconnectivity within the arts in Nigeria as well as likely prospects from this engagement with artists. The Taste! Transformation panel discussion featured the Director, LagosPhoto Festival, Azu Nwagbogu; Founder, ArtXLagos, Tokini Peterside and the Creative Director, AFRIFF, Chioma Onyenwe. Blakenberg further revealed that Lagos stop over is a foregleam of “Ike Ude: Nollywood Portraits” which will open at the National Museum of African Art in DC in February next year.

When asked how the human traffic at the physical Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art has been since its reopening after the pandemic lockdown, she revealed that it has been quite impressive.

“Smithsonian is not on full opening schedule in DC but we have had really encouraging visiting numbers that are higher numbers compared to those before the pandemic. People really need to be with one another in a physical space. We believe that there is a time and place for digital engagement and place and time for us to be together and be able to talk to artists and see works in real life. It is an interactive experience that you cannot do online,’’ she said.
The museum which has over 12,000 artworks capturing the different temperament of African history from ages till present is not immune to the renewed call for the repatriation of art works from Africa.

“We have bronzes that we have taken off you. Since I came on board, we have been spoken to by Prof. Tijani about the future of that collection and a very strong focus of mine is what I call ‘Decolonising the museum.’ That is not the end of the conversation. I have a vision of speaking to Africans about acknowledging Africa and engaging with the multi-lingual complex Africa and at the same time I am also aware that western museums have been awful to Africans. Museum practice has been racist, exploitative and it’s been abusive,’’ she said.

In her view, the foundation of the museum sits within a racist discourse and so it is imperative to return the collections- the stolen artworks-to Africa.
“I am absolutely looking forward to how to change that. It is not just about that. How do we classify works? How we talk about it? Who is involved in making decisions? Who decides what we look at? What are our partnerships? Where does the money come from? Who pays? How do we care for things? Do we take things and put them in glass cases just because white people think that is where they should be kept?” she asked reflectively.

As an expert in how museum management, Blankenberg is committed to interrogating how museums as institutions have the responsibility of engaging with people in new ways with attention to the tiny little details that can create inclusion and ultimately eliminate discrimination.

“Frankly, it happens in African museums just as it does in western museums. Just because a museum is in Africa doesn’t mean that it doesn’t propagate Eurocentric ideas. It is also about breaking the white taste. Not only Africans but black people don’t trust museums. It is like taking our cultures and putting them in cages,’’ she remarked.

While it may seem easier in some political climes to move the talk of the return of arts and artefacts to Africa into decisive action, the story is not the same in other countries where these works are currently being held.

“We have to stop doing harm. The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria knows that we have the bronzes. We have to figure out how to get them back and that decision is not mine alone to make. It is Smithsonian’s and US government’s. If we do harm, we have to take responsibility for that harm.

We have to build trust and once we do those three things, then we can start to engage. We understand that there is a relationship that has to be built. And you can’t divide the issue of repatriation from the issue of engaging with artists about the future. They are the same conversation,’’ she argued.

Though she is not an expert in African art, she admitted that she is both hopeful and cynical about the works from contemporary African arts.

“I think the works coming out now are incredible and I think that it is having a moment and that moment too can disappear. The stories that the artists are telling are unique; informing something different. There is huge imagination at play here,’’ she said.

When asked if she has had a taste of Nigerian food, she questioned what defines Nigerian food.

“Like what? What is Nigerian food? I would love to go to local Nigerian restaurant. Well, I have had pounded yam. It’s good. Nigerian food means so many different things. Does it mean grown in Nigeria?” she asked rhetorically. The brief silence afterwards made for a thought-provoking moment.

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