Opening of the Installation by Precious Okoyomon and Dozie Kanu

14.10.2023

–14.10.2023

11:00

The installation explores the natural phenomenon of the tide – the rise and fall of the sea. The location around the Grotta lighthouse provides a perfect opportunity to observe this, as the lighthouse is only accessible at low tide.

(US)

Dozie Kanu (b. 1993, Houston, TX) lives and works in Santarém, Portugal. Hegraduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2016 and participated in theMaumas Independent Study Program in Lisbon in 2022. Appropriating foundobjects and refashioning them to new aesthetics, Kanu creates sculptures andphotography that are inherently disobedient and stubbornly slippery. Theyresist classification and exist instead as communicative or performativeobjects. Kanu’s ongoing investigation into the limits of form, functionality,materiality and usefulness are often filtered through a personal lens drawnfrom the artist’s lived experiences.
Most recently, he exhibited at Quinn Harrelson Gallery, Los Angeles (2023);C-Mine, Genk (2023); Oregon Center for Contemporary Art, Portland (2023);for Public Art Fund in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York (2022); SFMOMA, SanFrancisco (2022); Project Native Informant, London (2022); Neuer EssenerKunstverein, Essen (2022); Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon (2021); PerformanceSpace New York (2021); JTG Detroit Project, Detroit (2019); The StudioMuseum in Harlem, New York (2019); as well as Soft Opening, London(2018)

Precious Okoyomon (born 1993) is a Nigerian-American artist, poet, and chef who lives and works in New York City. They studied Pataphysics at the Simmer Great Books School in Chicago. Their work is multidisciplinary and often investigates themes such as the racialization of the natural world and experiences of life, death and time. Their work has been shown in various international solo and group exhibitions including the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2022, MMK in Frankfurt and the LUMA Westbau in Zurich. The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Kunsthal Charlottenborg, and in the 13th Baltic Triennial in 2018. Okoyomon participated in Hans Ulrich Obrist’s 2018 Work Marathon, and has read their poetry at The Kitchen, The Studio Museum in Harlem, MoMA PS1, Hauser and Wirth, The KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Artists Space, and The Poetry Project, performing alongside Eileen Myles, Samuel Delany, and John Giorno. In 2019, they were nominated for the Paulo Cunha E Silva Art Prize and was included in Cultured Magazine’s “30 under 35” list of notable emerging artists.

Photo by Vikram Pradhan