The fourth edition of the Lagos Art Week programme brought together global and continent-based cultural leaders in a new iteration that integrated the first ever Re:assemblages Symposium, presented with Guest Artists Space Foundation alongside the tour’s established programme of curated art and cultural visits. Running from 4-5 November, the symposium marked a new institutional pillar within the week, complementing the traditional art tour from 6-9 November, which delivered gallery, museum, residency, and studio engagements, including VIP access to Art X Lagos and signature Foundation-hosted events. This inaugural integration expanded the tour’s scope while retaining its core model of patron access and arts ecosystem highlights.
Lagos Art Tour Day One and Two: Re:assemblages Symposium 2025
On 4th and 5th November, we hosted the inaugural Re:assemblages Symposium, a two-day convening that brought together artists, curators, scholars, archivists, collectors, and cultural practitioners from across Africa and the diaspora. Curated by Naima Hassan, the symposium was shaped by four conceptual currents, Ecotones, The Living Archives, Annotations, and The Short Century, which collectively explored transitional zones as spaces of renewal, reframed archives and libraries as future-shaping infrastructures, attended to historical gaps and silences, and revisited twentieth-century African independence movements and cultural production. The first day opened with a performance by Adjoa Armah, setting an ecological and sensorial tone for the discussions that followed. Keynote panels examined Afro-ecotonal thinking across oceans, restitution and memory work, and community-centred archival practices. Afternoon parallel sessions expanded these inquiries through film, performance, environmental case studies, Black feminist archival approaches, and explorations of theatre, embodiment, and the unruly archive. The day concluded at G.A.S. Lagos with a screening of Sister, Sister, Olukemi Lijadu’s work-in-progress film on the Lijadu Sisters, alongside the launch of the G.A.S. Reading Room.
The second day built on these themes through readings from Annotations in Four Acts, lecture-performances, and keynote conversations on independent publishing, the transformative possibilities of African collecting ecosystems, and the evolution of archival practices. Workshops and parallel sessions engaged topics such as liberation ecologies, postcolonial archives, sonic memory, Black radical traditions, and collaborative research. The symposium closed with a roundtable on curatorial histories shaped by archival gaps, silences, and imaginative reconstruction, marking a fitting conclusion to two days of rigorous, expansive dialogue. Afterwards, speakers joined the dinner hosted by G.A.S. Global circle patron Osahon Okunbo for an evening of relaxation and networking.
Lagos Art Tour Day Two: Dinner hosted by G.A.S. Global Circle Patron Osahon Okunbo. Image courtesy of Osahon Okunbo.
On Thursday, 6 November, tour guests began their day at G.A.S. Lagos for a networking event featuring presentations from residents E.N. Mirembe, Quincy Gario, Joey Aresoa, Kwadwo Aseidu, and Daniel Minter. Each resident shared insights into their practice and research directions. This was followed by a tour of the Foundation’s facilities and a lunch with invited members of the local creative community, creating an informal platform for cross-sector dialogue and potential collaboration. In the afternoon, a small group of patrons, art advisors, and institutional partners attended the Art X Lagos Collectors’ Preview, where G.A.S. exhibited its Library. The evening continued at Tiwani Contemporary with cocktails and a viewing of Material Affirmations: Oríkì Acts I–III by Lagos-based artist-designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello, his first major solo exhibition in Lagos. Bringing together design, material innovation, and Ifò-inspired archival and linguistic structures, the show provided guests with an intimate look into Nifemi’s evolving practice. The evening ended with a soirée hosted by G.A.S. Patron Kayode Adegbola.
Lagos Art Tour Day Three: G.A.S. Networking Breakfast and Evening Soirée hosted by G.A.S. Patron Kayode Adegbola. Soiree images courtesy of Kayode Adegbola.
On Friday, 7 November, the day centred around key cultural institutions, beginning with a tour of the National Theatre, Iganmu recently refurbished and repositioned as The Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts. Led by Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, who oversaw the restoration project, the tour highlighted the Theatre’s national significance in performing arts, its connection to FESTAC ’77, and its current institutional infrastructure, including the National Gallery of Modern Nigerian Art. The programme continued at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA Lagos) with a guided tour of Sea Never Dry, led by in-house intern Amirah Kelechi Egbefo. The exhibition, staged in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, explored archives as tools for understanding place-based memory in Lagos, with a focus on the cultural significance of Bar Beach. It also featured works by G.A.S. alumna Nengi Nelson. The afternoon included an open studio visit with multi-media artist Modupe Fadugba, whose practice spans painting, drawing, and socially engaged installation. The evening programme concluded with the ART X Lagos Private View and the after-party.
Lagos Art Tour Day Four: Visit to the National Theatre, Iganmu, Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) and Modupeola Fadugba's Studio
On Saturday, 7 November, participants diverged into two guided excursions focused on cultural heritage and creative economies. One group toured the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, followed by the National Museum, Onikan engaging institutional leadership on cultural heritage infrastructure, federal-state governance of collections, and narratives of Yoruba and Nigerian artistic and ethnographic archives. The second group visited the Lekki Arts and Crafts Market, exploring artisanship, cultural diplomacy, and informal creative economies through Lagos’ craft and design networks. Following the excursions, the delegation transitioned into self-directed activities. Some guests attended Art X Live in the evening, while others pursued independent itineraries informed by the travel guide and connections formed throughout the week, extending engagements across cultural sites, studios, and community spaces in Lagos.
G.A.S. Foundation Artists in Residence (L-R): E.N. Mirembe, Joey Aresoa, Daniel Minter, Kwadwo Asiedu and Quinsy Gario.