Lagos Biennial

Lagos Biennial
Name	Lagos Biennial
Genre	Contemporary art biennial
Frequency	Biennial
Location	Lagos, Nigeria
First	2017
Founder	Bisi Silva

Lagos Biennial Lagos Biennial is a contemporary art biennial held in Lagos, Nigeria, presenting exhibitions, commissions, and programs by international and African artists. Founded in the late 2010s, the event engages with visual art, performance, and public interventions across Lagos Island, Lagos State and broader Lagos metropolitan spaces. It connects institutions, artists, curators, and funders from Africa, Europe, North America, and the Global South.

History

The initiative traces roots to curatorial projects and institutions such as Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Tate Modern, Serpentine Galleries, Haus der Kunst, Documenta, and Venice Biennale practices that shaped biennial culture. Founders and early promoters referenced figures and organizations including Bisi Silva, Olu Oguibe, Yinka Shonibare, Okwui Enwezor, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, El Anatsui, Zanele Muholi, Olu Amoda, and Nigerian National Museum debates about public art. Precedent local exhibitions such as Ifá Batá, Third Guangzhou Triennial, Dak’Art and initiatives like African Artists’ Foundation influenced programming. Political and urban dynamics involving Lagos State Government, Lagos Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, and infrastructure projects connected to Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project framed operational choices.

Editions

Each edition has featured curators, commissioners, and participating artists drawn from networks linked to institutions including Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, British Council, Goethe-Institut, Prince Claus Fund, Ford Foundation, British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and MOMA PS1. Editions have evoked exhibitions and events such as Documenta 14, Bienal de São Paulo, Sharjah Biennial, Berlin Biennale, and Liverpool Biennial in scale and ambition. Individual editions referenced curators and critics like Okwui Enwezor, Simon Njami, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Hassan Hajjaj, Olafur Eliasson, Theaster Gates, Bisi Silva, and Ibrahim Mahama through invited projects and collaborations.

Themes and Curatorial Approach

Curatorial approaches draw on frameworks from Postcolonialism, global art histories represented by figures such as Frantz Fanon, Stuart Hall, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Achille Mbembe, Homi K. Bhabha, and discursive practices circulating through African Centre for Cities, International Council of Museums, ICOMOS, and academic departments at University of Lagos, Yale University, Goldsmiths, Columbia University, Rhode Island School of Design and University of Johannesburg. Themes have engaged migration, archive, memory, ecology, Lagos urbanism, and commodity flows in conversation with curators associated with Documenta, Sharjah Biennial, São Paulo Biennial, Whitney Biennial, and major museums. Programming often juxtaposes works by artists associated with Cape Town, Accra, Abuja, Kano, Dakar, Addis Ababa, Cairo and diasporic centers such as London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Lagos Island.

Venues and Infrastructure

Venues include historic and repurposed sites in Lagos like waterfront warehouses reminiscent of venues used by Biennale di Venezia collateral events, community spaces connected to Nike Art Gallery, and adaptive reuse comparable to Pirelli HangarBicocca, Tate Modern Turbine Hall, and Zeitz MOCAA galleries. Logistics interface with transport and urban planning institutions such as Lagos State Transport Management Authority, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and port operations tied to Apapa Port Complex. Technical production and installation practices draw on contractors familiar with large-scale exhibitions for Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Centre Pompidou, Louvre Abu Dhabi, and festival infrastructures like Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Notable Artists and Exhibitions

Participating artists have included internationally recognized figures and emergent practitioners from Africa and the diaspora: El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ibrahim Mahama, Wangechi Mutu, Zanele Muholi, Olafur Eliasson, Theaster Gates, William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo, Hassan Hajjaj, Bisi Silva, Chris Ofili, Julie Mehretu, Kudzanai Chiurai, Mickalene Thomas, Isaac Julien, Chéri Samba, Nnenna Okore, Adebayo Bolaji, and collectives connected to Cooking Sections and Forensic Architecture. Exhibitions have included large-scale installations, video works, site-specific commissions, and performance projects in dialogue with programs at Venice Biennale, São Paulo Bienal, Documenta, and regional presentations like Dak’Art.

Impact and Reception

Critical reception has been discussed in publications and forums linked to ArtForum, Frieze, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist, ARTnews, Curator: The Museum Journal, and academic journals connected to African Studies Association, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and university art history departments. Reviews compare the biennial’s ambitions to Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennial, Documenta, and São Paulo Bienal, while commentators reference cultural diplomacy involving British Council, Goethe-Institut, French Institute, and Pratt Institute. Debates touch on heritage and conservation actors like National Commission for Museums and Monuments (Nigeria), urban activists from MegaCity Lagos-style movements, and cultural policymakers in Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

Organization and Funding

Organizational structures involve partnerships with institutions such as African Artists’ Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, British Council, Goethe-Institut, Prince Claus Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, local sponsors tied to Dangote Group, Access Bank, and philanthropic networks linked to Tate Modern patrons. Governance models reference boards and committees similar to those at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Serpentine Galleries, and funding mechanisms paralleling Arts Council England, National Endowment for the Arts, and multilateral cultural programs administered through United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and regional cultural funds.

Category:Art biennials