Gallery 1957

Gallery 1957
Name	Gallery 1957
Established	2016
Location	Accra, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria
Type	Contemporary art gallery
Director	Marwan Zakhem
Founder	Marwan Zakhem

Gallery 1957 Gallery 1957 is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2016 that operates in Accra, Ghana and Lagos, Nigeria. It presents exhibitions, commissions, residencies, and publications focused on contemporary art from West Africa and the African diaspora, engaging collectors, curators, institutions, and biennials across Africa, Europe, and North America. The gallery has exhibited works by multidisciplinary artists and cultivated partnerships with museums, cultural foundations, and international art fairs.

History

The gallery was established in 2016 by Marwan Zakhem with early exhibitions that linked emerging and mid-career artists to institutions such as the St Louis Art Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In its first years the space hosted shows that featured artists who later participated in events like the Venice Biennale, the Biennale of Sydney, the Dak’Art Biennale, and the Sharjah Biennial. The gallery’s programming engaged curators and critics associated with platforms such as the Serpentine Galleries, the Tate Modern, the Guggenheim Museum, the Centre Pompidou, and the Hammer Museum. Over time the gallery developed relationships with collectors and foundations including the Rubell Family Collection, the Saatchi Gallery, the Frick Collection, the Felix Art Fund, and the Prince Claus Fund.

Location and Facilities

Operating from locations in Accra and Lagos, the gallery occupies converted residential and industrial spaces near cultural districts frequented by visitors to institutions such as the National Museum of Ghana, the Kunsthalle Lagos initiative, and the Nubuke Foundation. The Accra venue is situated in proximity to neighborhoods associated with cultural projects like the Artists Alliance Gallery and the ANPA Gallery, while the Lagos space engages areas around galleries connected to the Nike Art Gallery network and the Terra Kulture complex. Facilities include white-cube exhibition rooms, project spaces, storage compliant with standards used by institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and areas adapted for film screenings, performances, and talks involving representatives of the British Council, the Goethe-Institut, and the Alliance Française.

Exhibitions and Programs

Exhibition programming has ranged from solo presentations to curated group shows that connected artists to themes explored at international events including the Documenta, the ArteBA, and the Art Basel fairs. The gallery’s program has presented artists who have worked with or been featured at institutions like the National Gallery of Canada, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Public programs have included panel discussions with curators from the Stedelijk Museum, artist talks referencing practices seen at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, and screenings parallel to festivals such as the Cairo International Film Festival and the Lagos Photo Festival. Participation in commercial platforms has included booths and collaborations at Frieze London, TEFAF, and Art Dubai, while curatorial exchanges have linked the gallery with the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa and the Johannesburg Art Gallery.

Artists and Represented Practices

The gallery represents and exhibits multidisciplinary artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, textile, and performance who have affiliations with programs such as the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, and the African Artists’ Foundation. Artists associated with the gallery feature practices that intersect histories referenced by works in the Tate Modern and the National Portrait Gallery, and that resonate with scholarship connected to the Institute of African Studies and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Their practices address subjects that have drawn invitations to residencies at institutions like the MacDowell Colony, the Residency Unlimited, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Critical Reception and Impact

Critical reception has appeared in media outlets and platforms including The New York Times, The Guardian, Artnet News, Artforum, and Frieze; critics have contextualized shows alongside exhibitions at the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden and critical debates staged at the Serpentine Pavilion. Reviews have compared some exhibited careers to artists profiled by the Brooklyn Rail and catalogued in directories such as those of the International Council of Museums. The gallery’s impact is noted in its contribution to collector development in West Africa, dialogues with curators from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and its role in facilitating loans to institutions including the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

Publications and Collaborations

The gallery produces exhibition catalogues, monographs, and artist books in collaboration with printers, designers, and publishers who have worked with institutions like the Hayward Gallery, the MoMA PS1, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Collaborative projects have included co-curated shows with teams from the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, commissioning projects for initiatives by the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, and scholarly essays contributed by academics affiliated with Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Ghana, and Yale University. The gallery’s publishing output has entered institutional libraries and collections at the New York Public Library, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and university archives at the University of Cape Town.

Category:Contemporary art galleries