1922 Revisited Expands to Lagos With West African Performance Art Program

Third Space Art Foundation and Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos present Nigerian artist Jelili Atiku and an international dialogue on colonial archives, cultural memory, and Indigenous knowledge.

NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ⁠Third Space Art Foundation, a nonprofit arts organization supporting contemporary artistic practice AND Int. cultural dialogue, is presenting the West African edition of its 1922 Revisited program in Lagos, Nigeria, in partnership with the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA Lagos).

The November program extends the foundation’s ⁠international performance art initiative beyond its May 2026 presentation in Venice, Italy, with public events examining colonial histories, African cultural heritage, Indigenous knowledge, and the role of contemporary performance in reconsidering historical narratives.

The Lagos edition features Nigerian performance artist Jelili Atiku’s Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See on November 4, followed by a November 7 public discussion titled Decolonizing the Archive Through Performance.

Together, the events examine how artistic practice can contribute to conversations about cultural restitution, historical memory, and the representation of African knowledge.

What Is 1922 Revisited?

1922 Revisited is an international contemporary arts program that brings African and diasporic artists into dialogue with the history of African cultural objects presented at the 1922 Venice Biennale.

The program takes as its historical point of departure an exhibition of 33 African sculptures at the Biennale in 1922. Its contemporary artistic framework examines how African objects, cultural traditions, and histories have been represented within European exhibition systems.

The initiative considers how performance art can challenge inherited interpretations of those histories while creating opportunities for alternative forms of cultural knowledge and expression.

Its first 2026 phase took place during the Venice Biennale preview week, May 5–9.

The West African edition expands the inquiry beyond the specific 1922 exhibition to consider the broader histories of extraction, collection, displacement, and exhibition that shaped the movement of African cultural heritage.

By presenting this Next phase in Lagos, the program brings the discussion into a contemporary African cultural setting, where participating artists and scholars can address historical representation through artistic practices and intellectual traditions rooted in the region.

The transition from Venice to Lagos also changes the program’s geographic and interpretive context.

In Venice, the historical exhibition and its archive provided the principal framework for artistic responses. In Lagos, the inquiry extends to questions of Indigenous knowledge, embodied memory, and the relationship between historical archives and contemporary cultural life.

The movement from Venice to Lagos expands the inquiry from the historical representation of African art to the continuing cultural significance of the histories and knowledge those representations often excluded.

From the 1922 Venice Biennale to Contemporary Lagos

The historical treatment of African cultural objects within European museums and exhibitions has become an important subject of contemporary art history, museum studies, and cultural restitution debates.

Questions about how objects were acquired, classified, interpreted, and displayed have prompted renewed examination of the institutional frameworks through which African cultural heritage entered European collections.

These discussions extend beyond the physical ownership of objects.

They also concern the authority to interpret cultural meaning, the preservation of knowledge associated with objects, and the relationship between museum collections and the communities from which cultural materials originated.

International cultural organizations, including ⁠UNESCO, have addressed the protection of cultural heritage and the prevention of illicit trafficking in cultural property.

Within this broader context, 1922 Revisited approaches the historical archive as a subject of artistic investigation.

Rather than treating historical exhibition records as complete accounts of the objects and cultures they describe, the program invites contemporary artists to consider what those records reveal, what they omit, and how alternative perspectives might be expressed.

Performance offers one method of addressing these questions.

Unlike conventional archival documentation, performance can incorporate bodily movement, sound, ritual, public participation, and relationships to specific places.

These elements allow artists to engage with forms of knowledge that may not be adequately represented through written descriptions or museum classifications.

For 1922 Revisited, the relationship between the historical archive and contemporary artistic practice is therefore central to the program’s structure.

The Lagos edition extends this relationship into the public spaces and cultural institutions of Nigeria’s largest city.

Jelili Atiku Brings Performance and Cultural Memory to Lagos

On Wednesday, November 4, Nigerian performance artist Jelili Atiku will present Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., beginning at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos.

The performance will take the form of a public procession.

According to the program description, the work begins at the National Museum before moving along historic Military Street and King George V Road. The procession will subsequently return to the museum.

Atiku’s performance is conceived as a ritual reclamation of space, memory, and identity.

Its title, Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See, introduces a relationship between witnessing, remembering, and the emotional or cultural significance of experience.

The performance follows a figure described in the program as part spirit and part traveler, moving through Lagos as a connection between past, present, and future.

Drawing on Òrìṣà traditions and the psychogeography of urban movement, the work considers the layered histories of Lagos, including colonial violence, displacement, and continuing processes of cultural renewal.

The performance incorporates ritual gesture, sound, and collective movement to investigate questions of identity, fragmentation, restitution, and belonging.

The National Museum provides a significant starting point for this inquiry.

As a cultural institution concerned with the preservation and presentation of heritage, the museum offers a setting through which the performance can examine relationships among historical memory, public space, and contemporary artistic expression.

The procession extends that examination beyond the museum’s physical boundaries.

By moving through surrounding streets, the work connects the institutional setting of cultural preservation with the lived geography of the city.

In Atiku’s performance, the city becomes an active site of historical interpretation, with movement and ritual creating connections between public space and cultural memory.

Jelili Atiku’s International Artistic Practice

Atiku is a Nigerian performance artist and sculptor whose work addresses colonialism, globalization, environmental degradation, political power, and social justice.

Educated at Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Lagos, he has developed a multidisciplinary practice incorporating performance, sculpture, symbolic materials, and Yoruba spiritual traditions.

His artistic work frequently uses the body as a medium for examining social and political conditions.

Ritual movement, ancestral references, and symbolic objects are recurring elements of his practice.

Atiku received the Prince Claus Award in 2015, recognizing his contributions to contemporary artistic and cultural practice.

His participation in 1922 Revisited connects the program’s historical inquiry with an established artistic practice concerned with cultural identity, political resistance, and the relationship between contemporary life and Indigenous knowledge.

The November 4 performance also provides a central point of reference for the program’s subsequent public discussion.

Decolonizing the Archive Through Performance

On Saturday, November 7, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos will host Decolonizing the Archive Through Performance, a public discussion examining how contemporary artistic practice can challenge colonial interpretations of history.

The event will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at CCA Lagos, 9 McEwen Street, Yaba, Lagos.

The panel will bring together artists, scholars, curators, cultural producers, and practitioners of Indigenous knowledge.

Its central question concerns the potential of performance to reconsider the assumptions embedded in historical archives while recovering perspectives that have been marginalized or excluded.

In this context, decolonizing the archive refers to critically examining the systems of authority, classification, and interpretation through which colonial institutions documented and represented cultures.

The process may involve questioning the apparent neutrality of archival records, identifying omissions, and considering alternative methods of preserving and communicating historical knowledge.

Performance art contributes to this discussion by introducing forms of expression that are not limited to written documentation.

Gesture, oral tradition, embodied knowledge, ritual, and collective participation can provide additional ways of engaging with historical experience.

The Lagos discussion will also consider the meaning of restitution.

While cultural restitution is frequently associated with the return of objects, the panel explores whether restitution can also encompass the reactivation and transmission of displaced memories, cultural practices, and knowledge.

This distinction is particularly relevant to artistic practices that engage with Indigenous epistemologies.

The discussion uses 1922 Revisited and Atiku’s November 4 performance as starting points for considering how contemporary artists can contest dominant historical narratives and imagine alternative collective futures.

The panel approaches cultural restitution as a question involving both material heritage and the continuing transmission of knowledge, memory, and cultural practice.

Artists, Scholars, and Cultural Practitioners Participate in the Lagos Discussion

The November 7 panel includes seven participants representing different approaches to contemporary art, cultural history, and Indigenous knowledge.

Jelili Atiku

Atiku brings the perspective of an internationally recognized Nigerian performance artist whose practice engages with Yoruba cosmology, political activism, environmental issues, and cultural memory.

His November 4 performance provides an artistic reference point for the discussion.

Taiwo Aiyedogbon

Taiwo Aiyedogbon is a Lagos-based visual and performance artist whose multidisciplinary practice examines the historical, political, cultural, and spiritual systems shaping women’s lives and identities.

Her work spans performance, installation, sculpture, sound, moving image, and performative drawing.

She is the founder of 1–98 Art Studio, an independent artist-led space in Lagos dedicated to artistic production, collaboration, and contemporary discourse.

Aiyedogbon’s practice connects Indigenous knowledge systems with questions of historical memory and contemporary social experience.

Tolulope Ami- Williams Companies

Tolulope Ami-Williams is a multidisciplinary performance artist and educator based in Lagos.

Her work explores identity, ancestry, cultural memory, and empowerment through performance, installation, text, printmaking, film, and sound.

She holds a master’s degree in Contemporary Performance from Manchester Metropolitan University and was a recipient of the Prince Claus Fund Seed Award in 2023.

Her artistic research addresses relationships among personal experience, social structures, and cultural identity.

Akin Oladimeji

Akin Oladimeji is a critic, poet, curator, and academic whose doctoral research at University College London examines Nigerian performance art.

His research considers the practices of Jelili Atiku, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, and Zina Saro-Wiwa, investigating how contemporary artists negotiate local traditions and Euro-American performance art frameworks.

His scholarship provides a direct connection between the panel’s discussion and the artistic practice represented in Atiku’s Lagos performance.

Jumoke Sanwo

Jumoke Sanwo is a researcher, curator, filmmaker, and cultural producer whose work investigates archival silences, historical memory, and colonial systems of knowledge production.

She is the founder and creative director of Revolving Art Incubator.

Drawing on Yoruba knowledge systems, oral traditions, material culture, and urban memory, her practice considers the archive as a contested space in which historical narratives can be reconsidered.

Babaláwo Ifámúyìwá Akínwùmí Awóníran

Babaláwo Ifámúyìwá Akínwùmí Awóníran is a scholar and cultural leader whose work focuses on Ifá, Yoruba spirituality, and Indigenous knowledge systems.

His participation introduces the perspective of a practitioner engaged in the preservation and transmission of living cultural traditions.

This contribution is particularly relevant to the panel’s examination of how knowledge may exist and be communicated outside conventional institutional archives.

Oyindamola Faithful, Moderator

The discussion will be moderated by Oyindamola Faithful, a curator, arts consultant, and cultural producer with extensive experience in international artistic collaboration.

Faithful previously served as Executive and Artistic Director of CCA Lagos.

Her professional experience includes involvement with the Lagos Biennial, the Venice Biennale, AND Int. arts education and residency initiatives.

She is also associated with the Àsìkò Art School and Res Artis.

Her background connects the panel’s artistic and academic perspectives with broader international curatorial practice.

Why Performance Matters to Cultural Restitution

Debates about cultural restitution frequently focus on ownership, provenance, institutional responsibility, and the return of cultural objects.

These remain important questions.

However, the Lagos edition of 1922 Revisited introduces another dimension: the relationship between cultural heritage and the knowledge systems through which that heritage acquires meaning.

An object may be preserved within a museum collection while aspects of its original social, spiritual, or ceremonial significance remain absent from the accompanying institutional record.

Performance can provide a means of exploring these relationships.

Through movement, sound, ritual, and public participation, artists can investigate how cultural knowledge is remembered, interpreted, and transmitted.

This does not mean that performance substitutes for the physical restitution of cultural objects.

Rather, it offers an additional method for considering the broader consequences of historical displacement.

The distinction is relevant to contemporary discussions about the responsibilities of museums, archives, and cultural institutions.

It also raises questions about who participates in the interpretation of historical collections and how institutions engage with living cultural traditions.

The Lagos program places these questions within a contemporary African artistic context.

By bringing artists, scholars, and Indigenous knowledge practitioners into the same conversation, 1922 Revisited creates opportunities to examine different forms of cultural authority and historical interpretation.

Building an International Dialogue Between Venice and West Africa

The West African edition is presented by Third Space Art Foundation in partnership with CCA Lagos.

Additional program partners identified in the foundation’s materials include the Foundation for Contemporary Art–Ghana, NEWMEDIA.COM, UARK Art, and The Africa Center.

The collaboration extends the international institutional relationships associated with 1922 Revisited while emphasizing the contributions of artists and cultural practitioners working in West Africa.

The program’s movement from Venice to Lagos also illustrates how a historical artistic inquiry can develop through different geographic and cultural settings.

In Venice, contemporary artists responded to the history of African sculpture within a European exhibition framework.

In Lagos, artists and scholars extend that inquiry into the cultural, historical, and spiritual contexts of West Africa.

The relationship between the two editions provides continuity without requiring the artistic questions or methods to remain identical.

For Third Space Art Foundation, the program represents an ongoing commitment to supporting artistic inquiry across institutional and geographic boundaries.

Its significance rests not only in the presentation of individual performances and discussions, but also in the relationships it creates among contemporary artists, historical research, cultural institutions, and audiences.

The Lagos edition provides the Next setting for that work.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the 1922 Revisited West African edition?
   The West African edition of 1922 Revisited is a contemporary performance art and cultural discussion program presented in Lagos, Nigeria, by Third Space Art Foundation in partnership with CCA Lagos. It examines colonial archives, African cultural heritage, Indigenous knowledge, and historical memory.

2. Who is performing at 1922 Revisited in Lagos in November 2026?
   Nigerian performance artist Jelili Atiku will present Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See on November 4, 2026, beginning at the National Museum in Onikan, Lagos. The performance includes a public procession through surrounding historic streets.

3. What is the Decolonizing the Archive Through Performance panel?
   The November 7 discussion at CCA Lagos brings together artists, scholars, cultural producers, and an Indigenous knowledge practitioner to examine how performance can challenge colonial historical narratives and contribute to conversations about memory and cultural restitution.

4. How is the Lagos edition connected to the Venice Biennale?
   1922 Revisited takes its historical starting point from an exhibition of 33 African sculptures at the 1922 Venice Biennale. Following a contemporary artistic program in Venice in May 2026, the Lagos edition expands the inquiry into broader questions of colonial extraction, cultural heritage, and Indigenous knowledge.

Key Facts

• Program: 1922 Revisited: West Africa Edition, an international contemporary arts initiative presented by Third Space Art Foundation.
• Principal partner: Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA Lagos).
• November 4 performance: Jelili Atiku presents Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See, 4:00–5:00 p.m., beginning at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos.
• November 7 discussion: Decolonizing the Archive Through Performance, 10:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m., CCA Lagos, 9 McEwen Street, Yaba.
• Historical foundation: The program responds to the presentation of 33 African sculptures at the 1922 Venice Biennale and follows a May 2026 artistic program in Venice.
• Principal themes: Contemporary African performance art, colonial archives, cultural memory, Indigenous knowledge, and restitution.

Related Resources

• ⁠1922 Revisited: West Africa Edition
• ⁠Third Space Art Foundation International Arts Programming
• Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA Lagos)
• ⁠UNESCO: Cultural Heritage and International Cooperation

About Third Space Art Foundation

Third Space Art Foundation is a nonprofit arts organization supporting contemporary artistic practice, interdisciplinary research, AND Int. cultural dialogue.

Through collaborative programming, performances, exhibitions, and educational initiatives, the foundation creates opportunities for artists, scholars, and cultural institutions to investigate historical narratives, engage diverse knowledge systems, and develop new forms of artistic exchange.

Its 1922 Revisited initiative brings contemporary African and diasporic artistic perspectives into dialogue with the historical representation of African cultural heritage, connecting international cultural institutions and audiences through performance and critical inquiry.

For more information please visit: https://www.thirdspaceartfoundation.org

Attachments

• 1922 Revisited Launches West African Edition in Lagos
• Jelili Atiku Presents Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See in Lagos
• Decolonizing the Archive Through Performance, CCA Lagos Panel
• 1922 Revisited: From the 1922 Venice Biennale to Lagos 2026

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