Following the launch of its programme in May 2022, Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation is pleased to present An Unfolding Prelude, a group exhibition of works that were developed during, and adjacent to, the first six months of residencies. Throughout this period, the Foundation welcomed twelve residents based across five different countries and three continents. The exhibition, spanning a range of disciplines including painting, photography, film and critical research, celebrates the rich variety of practices that have been facilitated at G.A.S. thus far whilst offering a vignette into the possibilities that the programme could nurture as it continues to evolve.
To conclude her research residency at G.A.S. Foundation, British-Nigerian artist Seyi Adelekun will share her first solo performance for the public viewing of the An Unfolding Prelude group exhibition.
EXHIBITION DETAILS
Public Viewing: 6th November 2022
Viewing Time: 2pm - 5pm
Performance Time: 3:30pm
Location: G.A.S. Foundation, 9B Hakeem Dickson Drive, off T.F Kubuoye Rd, Oniru, Lekki Lagos
The exhibition is free and open to all but it is essential to RSVP. To visit please kindly book a free ticket via the link below.
The core of An Unfolding Prelude includes works by Mariam Hava Aslam, Femi Johnson, Emma Prempeh, Ofem Ubi, and Uzor Ugoala, all of whom form part of our inaugural cohort.
Femi Johnson, a Lagos-based director, producer, and multidisciplinary artist applied himself to further distilling ideas surrounding the evolution of the human experience, and its relationship to art at the intersection of virtual and augmented realities. His experience was shared with Uzor Ugoala who also lives and works in Lagos. Ugoala joined the programme as a conceptual photographer and was able to, for the first time, articulate his contemporary surrealist viewpoint through sculpture.
A partnership with Tiwani Contemporary resulted in painter and recent graduate of London’s prestigious Royal College of Art, Emma Prempeh joining the G.A.S. programme. A thoughtful body of work rendering transient, intimate recollections within familial spaces was formed and went on to be included in her solo presentation at Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos. Alongside her, emerging Nigerian artist Ofem Ubi used photography and poetry to continue his ongoing examination of the complexities of grief.
Whilst the aforementioned artists completed their residencies in Lagos, radical, nuanced and sensitive research was also being developed by Mariam Hava Aslam and Seyi Adelekun at the G.A.S. Farm House in Ijebu. Both have a foundational practice rooted in an architectural framework that is discursive, iterative, and participatory in its approach to the climate crisis and its relationship to social and environmental ecologies. A focus on urban food insecurity preoccupies Aslam’s explorations, meanwhile, Adelekun has developed a perspective that seeks to rediscover urgent solutions within embodiment practices, craft and historic Yorùbá culture.
Also included, is a series by Accra-based photographer Francis Kokoroko. Commissioned by Guest Projects Digital 2021 resident Steloolive, it formed part of an ambitious multidisciplinary project titled Oracle Afronaut. It drew inspiration from the true story of Edward Mukuka Nkoloso, founder of the Zambian Space Programme and arguably one of the earliest documented Afrofuturists.
Works by Yadichinma Ukoha-Kalu have been shown as a way of acknowledging the contribution of former resident and Savvy Contemporary curator, Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock. Ukoha-Kalu was invited to present during a series of weekly salons titled Wetin Dey Cook. Conceived by Balatbat-Helbock as a means of investigating archival formats that exist beyond institutional structures, they provided an opportunity for local emerging artists to converge and discuss their practices over a shared meal.
The G.A.S. programme and resulting works presented have been made possible by generous support from the British Council SSA Arts Digital Catalyst Fund, Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghana, German Federal Cultural Foundation, International Curators Forum, Lisson Gallery, Tiwani Contemporary, Triangle Network, University of the Arts London (UAL) Art for the Environment (AER) Programme, ZK/U Berlin, and our patrons and donors.