Emeka Obgoh
Emeka Ogboh presents work from the past few years in which he explores the soundscape of Lagos, Nigeria, by recording the sounds of the city and using this documentation as raw material for his installations. Lagos is a city under continuous change, and his artworks document these changes through the soundscape of the city.
Synthesis
Sound practice in relation to the city – Lagos • Documentation similar to archiving • 21 million people living in this 1000 kilometer-square space • The city is currently undergoing changes • Expand…
Sound practice in relation to the city – Lagos • Documentation similar to archiving • 21 million people living in this 1000 kilometer-square space • The city is currently undergoing changes • Started working on sound in Lagos in 2008 • Each city’s sound is really unique • There are no sound regulations • Ongoing sound project that explores Lagos as a vibrant African megacity • The lack of total silence in the city • The city as a composer: it composes the piece; Ogboh only documents • Various installations around Europe, experimenting with how non-Nigerians experience and react to the soundscape of Lagos • The city’s infrastructure is being updated to be more like European cities • The soundscape of the city is changing • Incorporating the Lagos bus driver, especially in the soundscape recording and installations; using the bus as an element for the installation • Working with composers to take sounds from Lagos and make music with it
Short biography
Emeka Ogboh, Nigerian artist with broad focuses on the notions of listening and hearing and who works primarily with sound and video to understand cities as cosmopolitan spaces with unique characters. Expand…
Emeka Ogboh, Nigerian artist with broad focuses on the notions of listening and hearing and who works primarily with sound and video to understand cities as cosmopolitan spaces with unique characters. His sound recordings also consider the history and aural infrastructure of cities, in particular Lagos, Nigeria, where he currently resides. These Lagos recordings have produced a corpus of work entitled Lagos Soundscapes, which he has variously installed in different foreign contexts. A graduate of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ogboh has exhibited in several venues in Nigeria and internationally, including at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos; Menil Collection, Houston; Whitworth and Manchester city galleries; MASS MoCA, Massachusetts; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; and Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne. Ogboh is a 2014 recipient of a DAAD grant and the co-founder of the Video Art Network Lagos.