Otobong Nkanga: Uncertain Where the Next Wind Blows

Uncertain Where the Next Wind Blows will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in Norway. 

Opening November 13, the exhibition will present a broad spectrum of Otobong Nkanga’s (b. 1974) oeuvre, showing almost 70 works created within the last 20 years. The exhibition will premiere two new works, Revelations (2020) and After We Are Gone (2020), both tapestries. In addition, works such as Carved to Flow (2017), which was first presented at dokumenta 14, Steel to Rust (2016), and drawings initially shown at the Venice Biennale in 2019, will be presented.

Nkanga’s drawings, installations, tapestries, photographs, sculptures and performances explore the complex impact of humanity’s history and presence on our nature and landscape. Through her use of a great variety of artistic mediums, Nkanga often begins her exploration through the study of resource extraction, manufacture and circulation.

Nkanga is the inaugural recipient of the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme, established by the Lise and Arne Wilhelmsen family in collaboration with Henie Onstad. With an award sum of USD 100,000, an exhibition budget as well as acquisitions to the collection of Henie Onstad, the Award is among the more significant art award programmes internationally.

The exhibition will be followed by an extensive catalogue featuring poems by Otobong Nkanga, a conversation between Carolyn Christov Bakargiev and Nkanga, new essays by Diana Campbell Betancourt and Catherine Wood, as well as an introductory essay by the curators.

Otobong Nkanga (1974, born in Kano, Nigeria, currently lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium) is considered one of the most exciting artists working today. She is an alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, DasArts Amsterdam and she was awarded with a residence at DAAD in Berlin. Her work is held in the collections of numerous international institutions including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin and many others. She has exhibited in exhibitions and biennials around the world, and has had solo presentations at Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town; Tate Modern and Tate St. Ives, UK. In 2019, Nkanga received a Special Mention Award at the 58th Venice Biennale; she was named winner of the 2019 Sharjah Biennial Prize (with Emeka Ogboh); won the prestigious Peter-Weiss-Preis, and she was also the recipient of the Flemish Cultural Award for Visual Arts – Ultima. In 2015 she was awarded the 8th Yanghyun Art Prize and in 2017 the Belgian Art Prize. Nkanga’s project, Carved to Flow, was presented the same year at documenta 14. Her most recent solo exhibition, There’s No Such Thing as Solid Ground in 2020, is currently on at Gropius Bau in Berlin, Germany, where she was the 2019 artist-in-residence.

Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme is the result of a partnership between the Lise and Arne Wilhelmsen family and the Henie Onstad Art Center and marks the continuation of a long-lasting friendship and engagement in the arts, and honors the memory of Lise Wilhelmsen. Whilst the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award Programme is international, it will remain rooted in Norway. It includes the prize and corresponding exhibition at the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, accompanied by a catalogue, audience engagement programmes and an acquisition budget allowing for the award winner’s work to be included in the Henie Onstad Collection. The award and programme for international mid-career sculptors and painters is a long-term commitment for the next eight editions over 16 years, with the strong ambition for a further continuation with eight editions for a total of 32 years. It provides an excellent opportunity to highlight and support the achievements of a prominent artist, both in Norway and internationally, and will further the possibility of presenting art of the highest quality.

The exhibition is curated by Tone Hansen and Karen Monica Reini.

Please join us in a live stream of the opening here.