The African Culture and Design Festival will stage a comeback following 40 years absence, in Lagos on Thursday, 9th of November ; 2017.
In a statement released to BusinessDay, the organisers noted that Africa’s rich cultural heritage has reached the point where it would no longer be ignored.
“We a continent have been able to not only preserve our art but, express our originality through various means and channels such as entertainment, fashion and interior design. We are extending our creative expressiveness to other cultures,” the statement stated.
The festival themed ‘This is Africa’ will be one of a kind which is yet to be experienced after 40 years as the world will see Africa in Nigeria through various attractive pavilions namely; Design, modern and contemporary Art, traditional installation and the video installation.
The organisers believe that the festival will serve as a connection between our past and present through a collection of relevant and specific objects which together will prove convincingly that both are related.
Curating the Design Pavilion will be one of Nigeria’s most celebrated curators, Titi Ogunfere, President Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN). This will feature notable works of Malian design maverick Cheick Diallo, the avant-garde pieces of Nigeria’s Damola Rufai as well as several other personalities that continue to redefine interior architecture globally.
Modern and Contemporary Arts pavilion will be curated by renowned consultant and director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Bisi Silva. This section includes admirable line-up of artists from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal and several others. In partnership with Goethe Institute and VAN Lagos, details of works created by the likes of Tobenna Okwuosa, Adjaratou Ouedraogo and Kelani Abass.
Femi Akinsanya’s traditional art will be the highlight of the traditional African art pavilion. This would be curated by the eloquent museum specialist and former chairperson, Committee on Inventory of Collections in the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria, Ronke Ashaye.
The Gelede Headdress Yoruba and Edan Ogboni and over 100 traditional art installations which have been carefully preserved for centuries are only a few of what visitors at the pavilion can look forward to.
