By Japhet Alakam

Ever since Aina Onabolu, the doyen of Nigeria art took the bull by the horn and transported visual art into the school curriculum in Nigeria, an action that produced not a small number of artist and critics but also changed the face of art in the country, no other single individual has come up with a space for the engagement of the visual trade.

Consequent upon this, one individual who recognised this missing link and decided to go extra mile is an independent curator and art critic Bisi Silva, whose well thought action led to the establishment of the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) located in Sabo, Yaba area of Lagos.

In a curatorial chat with the widely traveled curator, Bisi Silva stated that CCA started in 2007 with a mission to fill the gap that existed in the art scene in Lagos. She said that she taught that there was a gap in the art scene in Lagos and that art needed a place or platform for more experimental and physical artistic practices, hence the emergence of the center.

Platform for artists

Speaking to Vanguard’s arts, she argues that , “ I think that we have been able to provide a platform for artists whose works may not be completely commercial. We have provided a place where they can come and interact and show their works to the people and get feedback on how to move forward. Certainly, it is important to fill that gap in the art scene.”

Continuing, she said: “I think that our programmes are there as a proof of the achievement over the last 4 years. We have done series of exhibitions, our curatorial programmes have been extremely diverse, its been heard internationally, we have brought exhibitions from all over the world, Holand, Netherlands, we have collaborated with curators from Denmark, Sweden, Holland South Africa and have invited artists from African countries and also worked with Nigerian artists.”

The strongest part of the center’s programme according to Bisi is the educational programme, which she says, has brought over 50 curators from around the world to the center. She revealed that through this platform, curators and artists from Brazil, Bangladesh, Norway, Finland, Sweden and some African countries have been invited to the centre to talk about their works.

For Bisi, the ability of bringing in diversity of artistic practices and engage them with the local artists is really the core of the achievement of the center.

On her focus on the intellectual vision of the center, she disclosed that she is not an art dealer but a curator, and that her job is to engage intellectually with artistic practices, “Art is an intellectual endeavour, it is a profession like any other profession that engages people in an intellectual way , whether you are a lawyer, banker, medical doctor, Historian etc, art acts in an extremely critical and intellectual cycle which I felt was not been engaged with actively in Nigeria.

“‘For me I see artists as chroniclers of the society, people who tell us what is wrong in the society, what is good, what is going on in the society and that is also one of the ways in which I engage with contemporary society.”

However, she pointed out that the funding of the place has been carried on in what she described as a Gorilla tactics. According to her, “there is no any specific way, I have been able to tap into my international network that I have built over the last 20years and convinced international funders that CCA is important for the development of art in Nigeria and Africa generally. So many of them have been helping the center and also help from friends, patrons and even artists themselves and individuals.”

She further pointed out that in order to sustain the place and move it forward, the management of the center will look at income generating strategies, but that in doing that they will look at strategies that will allow the center to make money without compromising on the curatorial and critical integrity. “I am not going to make money at the expense of our programmes, at the expense of art development, at the expense of intellectual engagement and artistic experimentation.

I will not allow that.” she added. The job she said is a personal sacrifice so she put in her money too so that she would be able to make it develop something that is quite new within the sector. Though the center have not been able to tap into corporate sponsorship and they are working towards that.

In selecting artists and works to be discussed at the centre, Bisi reveals that , the starting point is to look at what the artist is saying, how interesting or relevant is it, how practical is it , what is he/she saying about the society, existence and in which way is the artist articulating what he is trying to say, whether it is interesting or experimental and others.

“And the center tries to actualise that by focusing on a topic throughout a year. For example last year, the focus was on the independence and ambivalence of promise and photography and this year, the focus is on Nigeria and Nigeria in Diaspora, and Nigerian artists based here are giving a platform to present their works but not just what they normally do but new areas of experimentation, something that is pushing their works further than they normally do.

“‘This vision has featured the likes of Mudi Yahaya, Victor Ehikhamenor and the next exhibition will feature 5 female artists, 3 based in Diaspora and 2 based at home.