12 February 2018 In another part of the show, Otobong Nkanga will visualize her own memories of growing up in Nigeria with almost self-explaining images such as 'Filtered Memories - Home, 1977', 'Filtered Memories - Reduced to Ashes, 1978' or paintings of the 'Social Consequences'-series. The exhibition title is derived from the name of the Namibian mining town Tsumeb (means literally translated 'To Dig A Hole That Collapses Again') which will play even at the opening day's performance an important role. The sculpture 'Solid Maneuvers' will be poured - some may be reminded of shamanic rituals - with various raw materials and cosmetic powder. MCA Chicago describes the performance "...as if trying to piece the extracted elements back together." Especially for the MCA exhibition, Otobong Nkanga installs a perfume-like scented water stream at the wall. The stream in the form of a meander is spiced with ingredients (cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, pepper, vanilla) imported to Chicago. fig.: Otobong Nkanga, In Pursuit of Bling: The Transformation, 2014. Courtesy of Lumen Travo Gallery, Amsterdam and Galerie In Situ – Fabienne Leclerc, Paris. (Provided by MCA Chicago on occasion of the exhibition 'Otobong Nkanga: To Dig A Hole That Collapses Again', on view from 31 March until 9 September 2018.) |
The tapestry (image right on this page) from the multimedia installation 'In Pursuit of Bling' is one of the center pieces at the upcoming exhibition '