Lagos Curator Establishes Private Art Society With Focus On Cross-Disciplinary Exchange The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

Lagos is getting a new kind of art venue: one that is designed to move between public access and private membership without losing sight of either. Ugoma Chinelo Ebilah, the economist-turned-curator behind Bloom Art Lagos, is opening Mbari Kola in Ikoyi, a renovated building overlooking the lagoon in one of the city's most affluent neighborhoods.

The 800 sq. m space will unfold over two floors and combine a gallery, shop and garden open to the public with a private lounge, terrace, library and multifunctional rooms reserved for members. Its programming will extend well beyond exhibitions. Mbari Kola is set to host residencies, film screenings, concerts, performances and readings, with a predominant focus on pan-African art and culture.

The project also brings Ebilah's philanthropic work under one roof. Mbari Kola will house the Mbari Kola Arts and Culture Foundation, which she established in 2019 to support artists and creative projects. The foundation will continue to back publishing initiatives and other programs, while the art on display will be drawn from the collections of the foundation, Ebilah and the club's members.

Ebilah says the club is meant to separate her“commercial charge” at Bloom Art Lagos from her“social charge.” That distinction matters in a city where much of the art ecosystem has been built by private initiative rather than government support. She also sees the club as a place where artists and audiences can remain in conversation.“The more these two people never lose sight of each other, then the more responsible and thoughtful they can be of each other,” she says.

The soft launch for founding members is scheduled for Africa Day, May 25, with later phases planned after the summer and during Lagos Art Week, which coincides with ART X Lagos from November 5 to 8. The club is partly funded by Ebilah and partly crowdfunded through founding patrons and members, of whom there are currently around 50 from Nigeria and beyond.

Mbari Kola takes its name and spirit from the Mbari artists' and writers' clubs that spread across Africa in the 1960s, beginning with the first club in Ibadan in 1961. Nigerian artist and curator Oliver Enwonwu says the original Ibadan club mattered because of“what happened intellectually within it.” He argues that Mbari Kola's success will depend on whether it can create the same kind of serious exchange across disciplines.

“Lagos already has commercial art energy in several galleries; what it needs more of are environments where reflection, argument and long-form cultural conversations can occur outside immediate market pressures,” Enwonwu says.“The ambition is therefore important-but the long-term test will be intellectual substance.”

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