World Weather Network

In 2022 Yinka Shonibare Foundation proudly joined World Weather Network (WWN), a global initiative conceived by Art Angel as a means of facilitating discursive and interdisciplinary resposes to the ongoing climate crisis, one of the most pressing issues of our time. G.A.S. Foundation, and in particular its secondary residency location the Ecology Green Farm in Ikise, will act as a conceptual weather station on behalf of Y.S.F. for the duration of the project joining 28 esteemed arts organisations around the world thus establishing a multifaceted constellation of global weather stations.

 

The World Weather Network strives to commune, platform and provide a voice for artists, writers, researchers and communities allowing them to share observations, stories, reflections, and images to create a vibrant archipelago of voices and viewpoints. The project weaves a rich tapestry of artistic exploration, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable action and ecological stewardship.

About the World Weather Network

 

From 21 June 2022 to June 2024, artists, writers and communities will share observations, stories, reflections and images about their local weather, creating an archipelago of voices and viewpoints. Engaging climate scientists and environmentalists, the World Weather Network brings together diverse world views and different ways of understanding the weather across multiple localities and languages.

 

Each partner arts agency has chosen a location of significance from where artists and writers can explore the local weather; these are called "weather stations". They may be specific places, buildings, environments or wider geographic regions. From each weather station, artists and writers will create new works in a range of different art forms: these are our "weather reports".

 

Explore the WWN Website

 

Portrait of Raqs Media Collective. Photographed by Vicky Roy. Courtesy of the artist and Artists-in-Presidents, Blackwood Gallery, Toronto.

WWN Residency: Raqs Media Collective

 

G.A.S. Foundation welcomed Raqs Media Collective (Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi and Shuddhabrata Sengupta) as the Yinka Shonibare Foundation delegates for the World Weather Network at our conceptual weather station on the 54-acre Ecology Green Farm in Ikiṣẹ, Nigeria. 

 

Throughout the lifespan of the project, Raqs will strive to examine the local weather, its ecological implications, and broader climate concerns working with other G.A.S. residents, visiting artists, researchers, scientists, farmers, and scholars. Engaging with a broad spectrum of collaborators, they'll delve into the intricate relationship between weather patterns, ecological narratives, and artistic expression.

 

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About Our Weather Station

 

The Ecology Green Farm, home of our secondary residency location the G.A.S. Farm House, is our conceptual weather station for the WWN. The 54 acre working EG Farm is situated in the village of Ikiṣẹ near the town of Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, Nigeria. 

 

Nigeria has a largely tropical climate, with variable wet and dry seasons that can experience, sometimes extreme, fluctuations across a wide range of conditions, rainfall levels and temperatures. The country is home to a diverse and varied ecological makeup of mangrove and freshwater swamps along the coast, a rainforest belt and savannah and semi-desert conditions further north as a result of the alarmingly southward advance of the Sahara. The farm itself borders a rainforest and produces a wide range of crops from peppers and cassava to coconuts and lemons.

 

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G.A.S. Farm House. Image © Andrew Esiebo

Event: Thinking With The Blood of Stars

 

To mark the end of their G.A.S. Farm House residency, New Delhi-based Raqs Media Collective (Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi, Shuddhabrata Sengupta) are hosting a screening and discussion at G.A.S. Lagos. Raqs are the Yinka Shonibare Foundation delegates for the World Weather Network, a visionary response to the climate crisis uniting 28 arts agencies worldwide in an endeavor to create an archipelago of voices, viewpoints, and responses to one of the most pressing issues of our time.

 

During their time in Nigeria, Raqs have visited several heritage sites in neighboring states such as Sungbo’s Eredo, the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Groves, and the palace of the Ooni of Ife. These trips were punctuated with meetings with local architects, scholars ecologists, researchers, and artists, all coordinated as a means of conducting vital research for the World Weather Network. Raqs Media Collective are embracing this event as a means of engaging in a dialogue with the local community and sharing insights from their experiences. The evening will start with a screening of their film The Blood of Stars which will be followed by a discussion.

 

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A Narrative: Raqs Media Collective's Time Spent in Nigeria

 

In the Autumn of 2022 and the Summer of 2023, Raqs Media Collective spent time at the Guest Artist Space (G.A.S.) Foundation residency buildings in Lagos, Nigeria and the  G.A.S. Farm House located on Ecology Green Farm in Ikise, Ogun State, Nigeria. From this base, they were able to conduct in-depth research trips to the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove in Osun State. 

 

Whilst in Nigeria, they researched and recorded material for a new artwork that can be read as their ‘weather report’ to the World Weather Network. The piece, titled ‘Na-Bam : Measure without Measure’ started in India, with another axis, which involved shooting and recording across the 28 Degree North Parallel Longitude, in North Eastern India (along the river Teesta in Sikkim, in North Western India (along the River Indus in Ladakh) and in Western India (the desert landscape of Rajasthan). 

 

During these journeys in Nigeria and India, their work condensed itself into a desire to think about soil and water, at a planetary level, and how narratives, especially mythic ones, have addressed them over time

 

Read the Weather Report

 

From L-R Shuddhabrate Sengupta, Monica Narula and Jeebesh Bagchi at the Osun-Osogbo sacred grove.

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