Stretched Terrains art project leaves for DaK’Art in Senegal tomorrow

The Goethe-Institut Nigeria mobile residency set to take artists to Dak’Art in Dakar, Senegal will hit the road from Lagos, Nigeria tomorrow, April 10.

Goethe-Institut Nigeria Director, Friederike Moschel, said at a press conference in Lagos Monday that the project titled “Stretched Terrains – The Mobile Museum on its Way to Dak’Art” involves a group of young artists from Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Germany.

The bus, she said, has been changed into a mobile museum and would go from Lagos via Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali and reach Senegal right at the opening of the 13th International Biennial DaK’Art in May.

According to her, apart from Emeka Udemba, who is the curator of the trip; Monsuru Alashe, another artist going from Nigeria, and Gabriel Goller from Germany, the other artists will be picked up as the journey progresses.

She said that during the trip artistic ideas will be developed, which finished projects will be presented on the return journey at the Goethe-Institut offices along the way.

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Giving background to the project Udemba, the Berlin-based Nigeria artist, said MMMoCA stands for Molue Mobile Museum of Contemporary Arts and came to being in 2004.

He said the idea of the museum is to interrogate the idea of having a space within the Lagos metropolis that is not restricted to a certain part of the city but creating a platform where contemporary art can be seen and enjoyed everywhere in the city.

He recalled that two years ago, it was decided to use the platform to connect artists along the West African coast. The first trip, he said, was successful with artists connecting across West Africa.

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Also at the press conference was the General Manager of Lufthansa Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, Robin Sohdi. He said the project is another opportunity for Lufthansa and its sister company, Brussels Airlines, to showcase young and emerging artists and artworks.

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This is the second time since 2016 that the German cultural organisation in Nigeria is coming up with such a project.

Moschel said during the question and answer session that everything has been done to make the trip as comfortable for the artists as possible. Goethe-Institut insisted that each of the artists travelling has health insurance, food has been provided and a mechanic for the vehicle, as well. She however said that it is an adventure and the artists travelling would expectedly meet some challenges. They, will, for instance, be expected to cook their own food.

Indeed, Alashe, who made the first trip, said they had met with some challenges but he said that from all indications, this would definitely be a much better trip.  

Gabriel Goller from Germany, who was at the press conference, will also be travelling from Lagos. Also on the bus from Lagos will be Willie Schumann, a film-maker and freelance journalists covering the event for the media in Germany.

The other participants are Ray Claver Agbo, Souleymane Konate and Dame Diongue, better known as artist Bay Dam.

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