Art Mobile Lagos (AML) is a cultural art gathering in Lagos, Nigeria where artists, academics (speakers) and the public will meet to exchange and reflect on matters of concern.
During AML, markets, parks, roads, empty buildings will be occupied and activated to affect societal conversations. AML will host dancers, visual artists, graphic illustrators, actors, and other creatives from Nigeria and abroad. As a community development project, we will facilitate workshops and symposiums where the public will participate for free.
The gathering is unique in the Nigerian cultural sector. It will give equal opportunities to all art forms and art makers. Also, it encourages a platform of discourse and engages the public in strategic public spaces where anyone, everyone will have access to it. It is the only indigenous modern cultural gathering that is reinventing mobile art in Nigeria. Mobile theater was prominent during the time of Hubert Ogunde and his travelling theater.
Nowadays, there is little interest in creating mobile art, but with AML, that will be re-established.
AML will bring together thousands of young people to encounter heartwarming cultural interpretation. Whoever understands the African cultural performance space knows that public spaces often transform into theater arena and festival ground. During such festivals, masquerades occupy the street in protest sometimes, questioning monarchical political policy in favor of the masses. Our collective fervently emphasizes the fundamentals of this traditional approach and the essence of art in the community. We will channel our energy in a contemporary approach to the actions of the masquerade and Ogunde travelling theater, to mobilize a positive reconstruction of Nigerian communities.
On the streets of Mainland and Lagos Island, there will be performances flooding the city on several socio-political and economic issues. Through the works that will be on display, the public will be entertained and informed. Our dream is to continue the culture of ritual and performance as perpetuated by the pre-colonial African (Nigerian) communities.
The gathering focuses on the sustainability of African communities in a post-colonial era, and we will be working with young people. We believe that working with these generations of people will reposition and redress the dispensation of information and empower them. This effort, we hope will cultivate a hybrid of new values and norms in our communities.
The cultural event is an initiative of the creative lab, Illuminatetheatre as they celebrate their fifth year anniversary. It has been five years of zero support. We have funded all our projects from private funds from individuals who make up the collective and the returns we get from the benevolence of our friends.
AML 2020 themed “Soji” is the inaugural gathering of Art Mobile, Lagos. We give thanks to the support of Goethe Institute Nigeria, Sebastian Loerscher, Diana Ejaita, Kolajo Omotayo Ahmed, Crown troupe, Naomi, and all invited artists and speakers who had answered our call when we needed them. Without the support of these people and organisations mentioned above, the realization of this project most likely would have been of extreme difficulty.
AML kicks off on the 25th, for pre-gathering, while the gathering begins on the 27th and runs till 29th of November 2020.
MAN'STER is a multimedia dance performance responding to manhood as a social phenomenon. The piece explores masculinity from a diverse perspective. It highlights male dominance in the context of power manipulation in politics, social affairs and pays strict attention to his cultural representation.
There will be live music as well as live silk screen printing on bags for taking home. The entrance is free but you have to pay a token to get the bags.
About the Artist
Uche Enechukwu is a multidisciplinary artist who got his artistic training from Crown Troupe of Africa. After many years of training, he went ahead to co-found illuminatetheatre productions where he currently serves as the project manager. In his words, dance is a tool for communication, intellectual engagements and a weapon for social and developmental construction. He graduated from the University of Lagos where he studied Business Administration.
Illuminatetheatre productions wish to announce to you Our new project what if? A project in
partnership with Goethe Institut, Arthouse Foundation and The Treehouse. It is an experimental film collage and a live performance by Ojudun Taiwo Jacob, in collaboration with Victoria Simone.
In 2018, Ojudun Taiwo Jacob was selected as an artist residency for the Goethe Institut/Arthouse Foundation residency exchange program between Lagos and Berlin, titled Unsustainable Privileges in partnership with Berlin art institutions Galerie Wedding, ZK/U –
Center for Art and Urbanistics and SAVVY Contemporary.
Taiwo works as a performer and choreographer. He spent three months in Berlin creating
a new artistic project that incorporated dance and film.
Now, he What If? his residency project to
a Lagos audience. The project is based on a decidedly African perspective of the Berlin
Conference (1884-1885) and the exploration of his colonialist mentality.
About The Artist
Ojudun Taiwo Jacob is a performance artist from Lagos, Nigeria. He lives and works as a performer, curator, and choreographer. For six years, he collaborated with the Crown Troupe of Africa in Bariga, Lagos where he received his choreographic and artistic/conceptual training. In 2015, he co-founded Illuminatetheatre
Productions, which he serves as Artistic Director. Taiwo works are primarily performed in public spaces for free access to everyone. He adheres to the relationship between the African (Nigerian) tradition and the evolution of contemporary culture. The blend of both cultures influences his artistic approach. His works are focused
on essentialism and existentialism with a strong belief that art evolves from daily encounters.
Victoria Simone is a filmmaker and multimedia artist. She has a background in documentary film making with a focus on ecology, sustainability, and environmental racism. Recently she has explored the combination of surrealism and documentary film.
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Chaos is a multimedia dance piece that explores the anthropocentric views of humanity. It posits how the balance we sort for becomes imbalance within the same system we hope to change in the presence of constant assessment. The dance piece view life in a developing state checks the designed human politics, questions choices, and exhibits its ripple effect on societal and global boundaries.
