As we launch our 2023 programme, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank the incredible residents whose commitment and enthusiastic participation lie at the heart of everything we've been able to achieve in our inaugural year. Their drive, energy, ambition, and ideas continue to inspire us and have been invaluable in helping us shape Guest Artists Space.
First to join us back in May 2022 was Berlin-based curator Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock who used the two-month period in Lagos to run her weekly Wetin Dey Cook series. The salon-style events were conceived to create an intimate environment where artists, collectors, curators and people from all walks of life could get together to exchange and meet in a relaxed atmosphere.
Emma Prempeh at a studio tour event held at G.A.S. Lagos on 30th August 2022.
Shortly after her arrival, she was joined by director and producer Femi Johnson and artist Uzor Ugoala. Both had been awarded their one-month residencies through the G.A.S. Fellowship open call that was announced earlier in the year to coincide with our local launch. It was an opportunity for Johnson and Ugoala to express their ideas in new mediums, an exploration that they have continued to develop since leaving the residency.
Ofem Ubi and his first solo exhibition The Last Time I Called... at G.A.S. Lagos in September 2022.
A short break for the rainy season was followed by the arrival of our first Tiwani Contemporary resident Emma Prempeh who spent her month in Lagos creating paintings for an upcoming solo exhibition. Alongside her, photographer, filmmaker and poet Ofem Ubi was focusing on publishing his first poetry collection and organising a solo exhibition of his own at G.A.S.
Mariam Hava Aslam presenting Apocalypse Pantry, a project developed in collaboration with Tushar Hathiramani and hFACTOR at 16by16 in October 2022.
Thus far we'd only been able to host residents at the G.A.S. Farm House for short intermittent stays however in September we welcomed artist and designer Seyi Adelekun and architectural designer Antoinette Yetunde Oni to the farm on a more permanent basis. They were joined by activist and spatial designer Mariam Hava Aslam who was splitting her residency across both locations. After leaving G.A.S. she went on to continue developing her research into urban food security at hFACTOR, Lagos.
Seyi Adelekun's performance Àgbo: Our Polluted Waters are Medicine at G.A.S Lagos in November 2022.
Whilst we were working on our international launch we welcomed our second and third Tiwani Contemporary residents; painter/printmaker Portia Zavavahera and sculptor Gideon Gomo. They made full use of the multifunctional studio/gallery space to make large-scale ambitious work for I See You which opened at Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos in early November. They shared the space with curator Miriam Bettin who used the period to continue her research into the fluid, transformative, anti-colonial, emancipatory, and queer-feminist qualities of textiles. Meanwhile, at the G.A.S. Farm House Shuddhabrata Sengupta, one third of Raqs Media Collective, was completing a short research trip ahead of a longer residency in 2023 planned as part of the World Weather Network.
Miriam Bettin with visitors and artists who participated in her exhibition Aso là ´nkí, kí a tó ki ènìyàn – We greet the cloth before we greet its wearer at the G.A.S. Farm House in Ijebu in December 2022.
On 7th November our final resident of 2022 design architect, researcher and creative Sarafadeen Bello joined us in Lagos. For him, the residency was an opportunity to continue an ongoing investigation into the intersection of restitution and technology. Bello was able to use the newly installed G.A.S. Library to support his research and concluded the residency with an immersive installation on the ground floor of our Lagos building.
Sarafadeen Bello speaking to visitors to his exhibition Artefacts (Re)connecting … Can you sense them? in December 2022.
The 2022 G.A.S. programme has been made possible by generous support from the German Federal Cultural Foundation, 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.