“We created a platform last year called NBA Meets Culture,” Gbemisola Abudu, NBA Africa VP and Country Head, NBA Nigeria, explains of the initiative. “The five pillars of the platform are arts, fashion, film, music and tech. Tech has become a fifth part of our culture because it enables all the other pillars. It just so happened that arts was the element we started out with last year, choosing to celebrate basketball through the lens of Nigeria’s rich heritage and arts culture first.”

It is almost symbolic that the evening event celebrating the 2023 instalment of the NBA Meets Art initiative took place in the Tiffany Amber Gardens. This lifestyle hub, housing the flagship store of one of Nigeria’s premier luxury fashion brands from the tail-end of the 20^th century, is a testament to how following a dream, no matter how crazy it may seem, can have unexpectedly wonderful and positive consequences.

This is not the NBA Nigeria’s theme this year in its collaboration with artist, Dennis Osadebe; however, it is the overarching message in its commitment to supporting the culture of the communities it exists in and extending its influence beyond the courts.

“First, people don’t realise that when you think about sports and arts, those are two languages that the youths resonate with. They’re the language of the youths. Arts is a way in which the youths express themselves, and, there is that natural synergy between arts and sports, it’s always been that way historically,” explains Ms. Abudu.

“Then, on top of that, one thing has become quite exciting in Nigeria. Through the invention of Art X and Art Week, art has been democratised. It has taken it away from the elite to the average Nigerian. That is why it was very important for us to do an installation there because we wanted to speak to the youth in a language that resonated with them. So, if you look at the installation that we created with Dennis where we talked about team building, working together, and building communities together, this is part of our messaging for the youth. So when you say why arts, that’s why arts. If you really peel back the layers, you can see where the natural fit comes in between sports and arts and specifically, basketball and arts.”

Dennis Osadebe concurs wholeheartedly.

“I would say that arts is in the fabric of everything … I got into basketball from playing video games. So from NBA2k to NBA streets, NBA figurines, NBA toys like a toy of Kobe Bryant, a toy of Iverson – that was my entry into the sports. And I would say, that’s arts. That is expression. That is almost giving the user the tool to express themselves. And you know, I found that very important in this collaboration because art also is very representative of culture, and a big part of culture is visual art.”

Based on the theme ‘Passing/Building/Victory’, the installation features five masked figures — Osadebe’s signature style — all holding a ball.

“This collaboration speaks to passing, it speaks to teamwork. And that is the ethos behind basketball – teamwork. You can’t win by yourself and I wanted to draw that into the work. That is why in the installation there are five different sculptures. So those five sculptures represent a basketball team about to make a point. And they’re arranged like that because that is an offensive position in order for you to attack and make a point. And the reason why it’s rotating and they’re spinning around is because they’re looking for who to pass the ball to.”

How did this collaboration come to be? For Dennis, it all started when “Gbemisola reached out to me saying look Dennis, this is our objective with NBA Nigeria and we would love to work with you on this next version of NBA Meets Art. And once that conversation started, I was excited because what is very important to me is to elaborate on being an artist and showing that there is not just one way to be an artist. You can be an artist that also celebrates community in a sexy way. So we started the conversation and what stood out to me is that basketball is a sport of 5 people that play as a team. So I said I wanted to build on that idea of teamwork because teamwork is important to sports and it is important to the community. As a community we can’t be great by ourselves; we can’t even go through the day by ourselves. We need people in every part of it. So it was just organic once we started the conversation to build on the collaboration.”

For Gbemisola, it was a bit more complex than that.

“When this conversation started about creating an installation at Art X, it really was about what type of artist’s body of work and signature speaks to who we are as a brand, and, who has a natural affinity for the brand. And I am not saying … a natural affinity for the NBA or for basketball is a requirement for us to work with an artist. But for the thought process for the first work we do, we wanted an artist that had a natural affinity for the game, understood the game, and understood the ethos of the NBA.”

“A name that was consistent in all the conversations I had, whether it was from research I did (I’m a lover of arts as well, so I’m familiar with several of the artists in the space), having conversations with Art X, having conversations with different patrons of art; a name that kept coming up consistently was Dennis Osadebe.”

“As we grow the footprint of the brand in Nigeria, there is a level of intentionality on how we showcase Nigeria to the world, how we showcase our excellence and the amazing things happening in our creative industry. So, when you look at all those different layers and you have all these criteria that we sort of spelt out, one person that checked a lot of those boxes was Dennis. And that’s why we decided to go with him for our first collaboration with an artist. And expressing to him what we were interested in creating, and him being able to come back and say, based on what you’ve said, based on my work, here’s what I would present. And the theme of ‘Passing/Building/Victory’ came together.”

Judging by the response NBA Nigeria has received from this first installation, Ms Abudu is more than confident that the initiative is not only here to stay, but would also unlock incredible and unimaginable opportunities for the Nigerian art community and just about everyone who is affiliated with the NBA here in the country.

“So this is the first time we have collaborated with an artist in Africa for our NBA Meets Art initiative; we’ve never done this before. And what we’ve seen so far … is an insane level of interest from galleries around the world. Everybody has been like this is amazing work. I’ve received calls from galleries from all around the world who’ve said, ‘Can you bring this work there?’ There is a hunger for it, seeing the reaction even at the fair, all the pictures of kids painting on it and really just having a great time, seeing a bunch of kids saying they want to take the figurines home with them. And a lot of people saying they want a piece of this at their home, can they buy the figurines? It just really drives home the point that wow, this really was successful, people love it, people care about it.”

As for what is next for Nigerian art and the larger community within the NBA, Gbemisola is very optimistic. “We’re going to find very interesting ways to implement programs and initiatives to deepen our involvement with the arts community in Nigeria in a sustainable manner. There are plans to figure out what that would look like after the success of this installation with Dennis.”

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On Friday, the design firm released of the first images of the planned Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA), a new museum, gallery and research centre which will house some 300 items on loan from European museums – if the money to build it can be raised.

The new museum, which will be adjacent the Oba’s palace, is linked to a $4 million archaeology project to excavate the site of the planned museum, and other parts of Benin City, to uncover ancient remains including parts of the city walls. This project, along with the museum, is a joint effort involving the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT) – a Nigerian not-for-profit organisation – the British Museum with the local communities,  the Benin Royal Court, the Government of Edo State, and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).

Appointed to undertake the initial concept and urban planning work on EMOWAA, Adjaye Associates will use “archaeology as a means of connecting the new museum into the surrounding landscape, by revitalizing and incorporating the surviving remains of the walls, moats and gates of the historic city, seen throughout the modern city today”. Acknowledging the importance of the buried archaeological remains, the excavation of the site will become part of the visitor’s experience.

Part of a wider scheme to revitalize the cultural core of Benin City, the EMOWAA and the archaeology project will be the drive behind the city’s economic revitalization. But Sir David Adjaye, founder of Adjaye Associates hopes for something more. “It has to be for the community first,” he said, “and an international site second.” He hopes that the return, albeit temporary, of the Benin bronze arts to its place of birth sparks “ the beginning of the renaissance of African culture. You need the objects because the objects provide the provenance and the physicality that start to connect you.”

Starting in 2021 and continuing for a period of 5 years, EMOWAA is focused on reuniting Benin artworks currently within international collections, as well as investigating and presenting the wider histories that these represent. In addition to directly supporting the building of the new museum, this archaeology project will actively engage with wider debates concerning Benin cultural heritage and the representation of its history.

The open dialogue that this project fosters is designed to create new opportunities to address the significant history of the Kingdom of Benin but also the painful history of the invasion and destruction of Benin City by British forces in 1897 – and to engage in new forms of cultural exchange and understanding.

The Kingdom of Benin was one of the most important and powerful pre-colonial states of West Africa. It is known today for its castings in brass and bronze – the Benin Bronzes – as well as objects in other materials, including ivory, coral and wood.

Source: Arch Daily

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Created by British sculptor and environmentalist Jason deCaires Taylor, the Museum of Underwater Arts (MOUA) is located in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia. The first artwork is the Ocean Siren. It is a solar-powered sculpture of a young indigenous girl that changes colour as a visual warning of critical warming, using live water-temperature data from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. The sculpture will be exposed at low tide and underwater at high tide.

The second installation is the 53-foot deep Coral Greenhouse at the heart of the John Brewer Reef. The 40-foot-long skeletal building contains 20 concrete life-sized students working with coral. They are anchored to the seafloor and are all moulded after real people, seemingly frozen in time. Coral Greenhouse is MOUA’s largest installation, weighing 64 tons and strong enough to withstand a Category 4 cyclone.

Beyond being a strong tourism draw and a habitat for marine creatures, Coral Greenhouse functions as a laboratory. Water salinity, pH and oxygen levels are monitored, and an underwater camera captures the development of the corals. It is also hoped that it will expand ocean research and conservation, including coral spawning, the biology of mangroves, herbivorous fish and marine protected areas, all of which will be monitored and recorded by citizen scientists.

“The aim is to plant some local corals in the Greenhouse for research and education,” says Dr. Adam Smith, co-founder of the MOUA. “There has also been some natural recruitment of algae, coral, invertebrates and fish to the Coral Greenhouse, and a recent survey indicated over 50 species of fish, including the rare and protected Barramundi cod.”

The idea behind MOUA was inspired by Mexico’s Underwater Museum of Art in Cancun, which opened in 2010 and holds over 500 lifesized sculptures. MOUA is working with five authorized commercial tourism operators to allow visitors to experience the seabed museum, assisted by dive instructors and guides. For now, guests wanting to visit by charter yacht can use nearby Orpheus Island Resort which is one of MOUA’s authorized operators. The resort offers a 131-foot superyacht Flying Fish for charter.

Source: Robb Report

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