Emeka Ogboh: PLAYBACK - The African Union: 20 to 20,000 Hz

The exhibition PLAYBACK - The African Union: 20 to 20,000 Hz presented by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) provides further context to the competition-winning project SONIC COMMUNITARY - The African Union: 20 to 20,000 Hz from Nigerian sound artist Emeka Ogboh for the Julius Nyerere Peace and Security Building of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa.

In the exhibition, Ogboh presents sound recordings and archival materials collected throughout his extensive research. With multifaceted installations, Ogboh interweaves historical recordings of speeches from the founding ceremony of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) with newly arranged compositions and original sound recordings. Referencing the AU motto of “Unity in Diversity,” the artist further adapts the hymn of the African Union into different languages from across the African Continent. Through a dynamic archive of voices, songs and tones, the installation examines the past and present of the African Union, its pan-African visions and rhetoric expressions.

The jury, chaired by artist Olafur Eliasson, convened with experts from across the African Continent. The selection of Emeka Ogboh, who works primarily with digital audio media, signals a fundamental shift in artistic approaches to memory culture. Elke aus dem Moore, head of the visual arts department at ifa, remarks, “The jury’s selection of Emeka Ogboh’s project presents a decisive statement. It is a clear rejection of the monumental and the manifestation of memory in the monument. Instead, African self-conception will be dynamically represented with contemporary resonance. The jury’s decision was not only inspired by the compelling discussions initiated during the Future Memories conference, but in many ways represents a continuation of these trans-African discourses in other contexts. This dialogue will also continue within Germany. In this respect, the recognition of Emeka Ogboh’s work can be seen as a signal of progress and an achievement of German foreign cultural policy.”

Overall conception: Elke aus dem Moore, head of the visual arts department at ifa

Curator: Christina Werner

Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 9am–5pm

Emeka Ogboh lives in Lagos, Nigeria and in Berlin. He specialises in digital audio and video media. He is the co-founder of VAN (Video Art Network) Nigeria, a platform supporting artistic endeavours in new media within Nigeria. In 2015, Ogboh previewed his installation for the African Union building in the exhibition PLAYBACK - The African Union: 20 to 20,000 Hz at ifa-Galerie Berlin.

ifa conceptualised the art competition and in cooperation with the artist, supervised the art installation at the new AU building with financing from the Federal Foreign Office. Prior to the competition, ifa organised the catalysing conference Future Memories, which addressed art, public and memory culture in an African context and the similarly titled online publication in cooperation with the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa. ifa also facilitated the concurrent exhibition PLAYBACK - The African Union: 20 to 20,000 Hz.

An exhibition by the ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen),

in collaboration with the Modern Art Museum: Gebre Kristos Desta Center,

funded by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany,

supported by the Goethe-Institut Addis Ababa.