Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos presents The Progress of Love a transatlantic collaboration with the Menil Collection, Houston and the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St Louis. Focusing on a series of events that prioritise the performative, the programme includes interactive installations, live art, screenings, artists’ talks, panel discussions and literary presentations exploring love from a diversity of perspectives. On view through 27 January 2013.
Wura-Natasha Ogunji, A Tortoise Walks Majestically on Window Ledges, 2012. Performance. Courtesy CCA, Lagos
The Progress of Love began in October with artist Valerie Oka’s exhibition highlighting the complexities of human emotions and relationships through her drawings, paintings and installations. The opening culminated with a performance dinner in which participants collectively shared personal experiences. It was followed in November by Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s presentation A Tortoise walks majestically on window ledges. This poetic performance work is inspired by the discovery of—in 2010, on her first visit to Nigeria—and the stories contained within a journal written over a 15-year period by a father she never met.
The Progress of Love continues to unfold in Lagos in December, coinciding with the fifth-anniversary celebration of the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos. With this milestone it seems appropriate that we are focusing on the intersections of contemporary art and love, that universal emotion shared by humankind irrespective of colour, creed or geography. The Progress of Love provides an opportunity to interrogate a seemingly trivial concept from a profound and diverse perspective. The project has allowed us to extend our curatorial parameters with a programme of newly commissioned work in addition to consolidating our focus on performative art practices, which are gaining unprecedented attention throughout the continent.
A fully illustrated publication with essays by the curators and contributing writers complements The Progress of Love in all three venues.
The Progress of Love at CCA, Lagos is curated by Bisi Silva with curatorial assistance by Taiye Idahor.
Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos
9 McEwen Street,
Sabo, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
T 234 702 836 7106
www.ccalagos.org