Exhibition: Beyond the Truth

What is the correlation between the truth, storytelling and the narratives of history? Can the truth take on visual form? Does truth appear in a different form from untruth? Who is telling the truth? And how do we shape fictions to suit our personal truths?

Selected Artworks: Citadella by Haegue Yang

Haegue Yang, "Citadella" , 2011

Events with Nameless Neighbours

Haegue Yang, "Doubles and Halves- Events with Nameless Neighbours" , 2009

More still-images of the project by Haegue Yang here

Surpression / Distraction

"Haegue Yang's exhibition is an elegant argument for the affective emancipatory possibilities of abstract sculpture. The roomsize installation- an austere landscape of venetian blinds, space heaters, fans, and theatrical lights- combines the phenomenological bent of James Turrel and Olafur Eliasson with the machine aesthetic of Dennis Oppenheim. Suspended from the ceiling in a darkened, cavernous gallery, the blinds form a mazelike structure lit by slowly rowing beams from high-tech theatrical spotlights and the warm glow of nearby heating elements. Moody shadows encircle the room, and slippery moiré patterns appear and dissolve across the blinds. The overall effect is an eternal twilight, that melancholy juncture between day and night, between one moment and the next. But this pensive mood is recast as a deadlock by the arrangment of heaters and fans, whose extravagant expenditures of energy cancel each other out. "

Occupy Nigeria at Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos

Jelili Atiku, "Nigerian Fetish" , performance, 2011

"The week started off with small pockets of unrest and moderate demonstrations that gradually gave way to full-fledged civil resistance throughout the nation. This movement, in consonance with other 'Occupy' protest demonstrations around the world, can be seen in light of a variety of issues that currently plague the nation—foremost among them being the country's stagnant economy, its dilapidated transport, education and health infrastructure, and the ever-present parasitic forms of political and economic corruption.

Within this context, CCA, Lagos initiated an open-ended programme to discursively engage the nation's current state of affairs, the mechanisms underpinning Occupy Nigeria as well as the movement's immediate impact and potential long-term effects. "

Runa Islam: Trust

Raqib Shaw: The Garden of Earthly Delights

"Raqib Shaw’'s gloriously opulent paintings suggest a fantastical world full of intricate detail, rich colour, and jewel-like surfaces, all masking the intense violent and sexual nature of its imagery. Inspired by Hieronymous Bosch’'s fifteenth century visionary triptych, Shaw’'s series of works similarly titled ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ celebrate a society free of any moral restraint. Populated with a wealth of hybrid creatures, Shaw portrays a dizzying scene of erotic hedonism, both explosive and gruesome in its debauchery. Fusing an array of vibrantly painted flora and fauna, Shaw creates an eco-system inhabited by figures such as phallus-headed birds, bug-eyed butterfly catchers, reptilian warriors or monkeys holding parasols, anthropomorphic in their gestures and regalia. "

Zarina Bhimji: Waiting

“I am interested in the spaces, micro details and the light of these distant interiors. The location of light is an element of my composition. Information and research become crucial aspects of my work. I would hope that the work that emerges would be distanced from its personal or historical specifications.”

Watch Zarina's film "Waiting" here