Emeka Ogboh's Multisensory Art Explores Migration Through Sound, Food, and Collective Experience
Emeka Ogboh, a Nigerian artist residing in Berlin, delves into themes of migration, memory, and identity through immersive experiences. His artistic journey commenced in 2008 with sound, inspired by a workshop in Tunis. The Lagos Soundscapes series, initiated in 2008, encapsulates the vibrant rhythms of Lagos. In 2017, he showcased Passage through Moondog at Skulptur Projekte Münster and The Way Earthly Things Are Going at Documenta 14. His installation at the 2015 Venice Biennale featured the German national anthem sung in ten African languages. For the 2021 Edinburgh Art Festival, he had EU nationals perform Auld Lang Syne. His 2019/21 work, Ámà, at Gropius Bau, included a nine-metre sculptural tree. Ogboh, who relocated to Berlin in 2014, joined Galerie Imane Farès in 2020, creating art that fuses dub techno with recordings from Lagos.
Key facts
- Emeka Ogboh is a Berlin-based Nigerian artist born in 1977 in southeast Nigeria
- His work explores migration, memory, and identity through multisensory experiences including sound, food, and communal activities
- Key installations include Passage through Moondog (2017) at Skulptur Projekte Münster and Ámà: The Gathering Place (2019/21) at Berlin's Gropius Bau
- He created audio works The Song of the Germans (2015) for Venice Biennale and Song of the Union (2021) for Edinburgh Art Festival
- Ogboh produces consumable artworks like Quiet Storm beer and Sufferhead original stout developed with breweries
- His albums include Beyond the Yellow Haze (2020) and 6°30'33.372"N 3°22'0.66"E (2022) blending electronic music with Lagos field recordings
- He joined Galerie Imane Farès in Paris in 2020 after previously avoiding gallery representation
- Recent work Boats (2024) at Tasmania's MONA festival featured gin with Nigerian and Tasmanian botanicals referencing immigration politics
Entities
Artists
- Emeka Ogboh
- Harald Scherz
- Moondog
- Fela Kuti
- John Cage
- Pauline Oliveros
- Walter Ruttmann
- Tony Abbott
Institutions
- Skulptur Projekte Münster
- Gropius Bau
- Venice Biennale
- Documenta 14
- Edinburgh Art Festival
- Galerie Imane Farès
- Museum of Old and New Art
- DAAD
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- Nigeria
- Lagos
- Münster
- Paris
- France
- Athens
- Greece
- Edinburgh
- Scotland
- United Kingdom
- Tunis
- Egypt
- Tasmania
- Australia
- Wedding
- Belgium
- Austria
- United States