Emeka Ogboh
| Emeka Ogboh | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 14, 1977 Enugu, Nigeria |
| Residence | Lagos, Berlin |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Known for | Lagos Soundscapes |
Emeka Ogboh is a Nigerian sound and video artist best known for his soundscapes of life in Lagos.
History
Ogboh became interested in sound art during a media class at the 2008 Fayoum Winter Academy with Austrian multimedia artist Harald Scherz. Following this experience, Ogboh paid closer attention to the interaction of sounds in Lagos as compositions rather than individual voices.[1] Ogboh compared the soundscapes to orchestra symphonies with layered voices rather than strictly chaotic noise.[2]
Work
Ogboh is a sound and video artist.[2] Ogboh's sound works have explored the audible expressions that characterize cities, particularly in Lagos. Okay Africa wrote that his work was "rich with sociopolitical commentary". In this way, the power blackout during the Nigerian 2014 FIFA World Cup game was not an angry crowd but a "honest commentary on the government's provision of resources".[1] Ogboh took these Lagos recordings to museums around the world since 2008.[1]
In 2014, his The Ambivalence of 1960 was featured in an exhibition at the Casino Luxembourg. The piece is a six-minute collage of speeches from Nigeria's 1960 independence festivities, including those of President Nnamdi Azikiwe, Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, and English Princess Alexandra of Kent. Their aspirations for a human rights, freedom, religious tolerance, and economic development, compared with the present day, show Nigeria's political failures over the previous half-century.[1] Ogboh visited New York City in September 2014 with his danfo share taxi, a symbol of public transport in Lagos, for a one-day installation (Lagos State of Mind II) at The Africa Center in Harlem. The installation included photos of the taxi with historic landmarks and African-American neighborhoods in New York City, juxtaposed against sounds situated in and out of the taxi.[2] One of Ogboh's earlier works, Verbal Maps of Ojuelegba, features a Lagos danfo driver reciting the Ojuelegba route.[2]
Selected exhibitions
- Hlysnan: The Notion and Politics of Listening, Casino Luxembourg, 2014[1]
- Meet The Africa Center, The Africa Center, Harlem, New York, September 2014[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Babatunde, Omololu Refilwe (August 7, 2014). "Nigerian Sound Artist Emeka Ogboh Revisits Hopes of Nigeria's Past In 'The Ambivalence Of 1960'". Okay Africa. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Akindele, Oluwatoni Y. (September 19, 2014). "Emeka Ogboh Brings His Lagos Danfo Bus To NYC". Okay Africa. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
Further reading
- Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth (August 14, 2013). "Nigeria: the distinctive sounds of Lagos". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
- Lemu, Massa. "Danfo, Molue and the Afropolitan Experience in Emeka Ogboh's Soundscapes". Art & Education. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
- http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19301944.2014.975510
- http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/sounds-lagos-nigeria-come-washington-dc-new-exhibit-african-art-museum-180958026/?no-ist
- http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/national-museum-african-art-presents-market-symphony-emeka-ogboh
- In All the World's Futures http://www.okayafrica.com/news/venice-biennale-2015-african-artists/#slide1
- https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-the-brooklyn-museum-is-transforming-the-way-we-think-about-african-art
- http://mg.co.za/article/2015-05-21-african-digital-art-in-the-age-of-globalisation
- interview: http://www.anotherafrica.net/art-culture/in-conversation-with-emeka-ogboh-on-lagos-and-listening-to-the-world-in-a-musical-way
- [1]
External links
- ↑ Artsy Editorial (October 5, 2014). "Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi On Curating The African Canon". Artsy. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.