| Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art | |
|---|---|
The Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art home page |
|
| Established | 2011 |
| Type | Virtual Museum |
| Director | Jess Castellote |
| Curator | Akinyemi Adetunji |
| Website | www.pau.edu.ng/museum/ |
The online Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art is a non-commercial initiative whose primary aim is to provide an easily accessible educational resource that can serve as first point of reference for students, teachers and art enthusiasts interested in learning about modern and contemporary art in Nigeria. It is operated by the Pan-African University, Lagos, Nigeria, the parent body of the Lagos Business School.
The virtual museum went live in September 2011. It was created by Jess Castellote, a Spanish architect, and is managed by Akinyemi Adetunji. It has three virtual floors and ten gallery rooms, each of which is dedicated to a specific period or to a given school or expression. The interactive website includes over 400 works from 81 artists, including pioneering Nigerian artists such as Aina Onabolu and Bruce Onobrakpeya and emerging artists such as Richardson Ovbiebo and Babalola Lawson. Some of the objects are held in private collections and are on public display for the first time.[1]
The virtual museum complements the Nigerian National Museum, opened in 1957 in the city of Lagos. While the National Museum has an excellent collection that includes works from 900-200 BC, it lacks contemporary work. The virtual museum fills this gap.[2] Castellote has said that he hopes the virtual museum will help unknown Nigerian artists who have produced great works to become better known. He acknowledges that there may be problems such as ensuring authenticity and accuracy of information, but describes the site as a work in progress that will constantly evolve and improve.[3]
The sections of the website resemble rooms and are modelled after major art schools and styles in Nigeria with the exception of the space dedicated to Bruce Onobrakpeya, an octogenarian print artist. Featured under the Museum are approximately 80 (Eighty) artists (to start with) randomly distributed among the rooms. The list is subjective, though prominence and impact on Contemporary Nigerian Art is a yardstick employed in the selection. The virtual museum is starting small, but we hope to gradually build it into one of the top educational resources on Nigerian Art. It is dynamic and is witnessing growth regularly. The virtual museum will help disseminate and add to the body of existing knowledge on Contemporary art in Nigeria. The artworks online are spread to accommodate all themes, styles and type of works (Painting, Sculpture, Materialism, etc.) with major focus presently centred on Painting and Sculpture. The Virtual Museum is working with many Nigerian artists and collectors to pool these works. For protection of artists’ and collectors’ rights, all reproductions /representations of artworks identify the artist who created them and the collection the works belong to; moreover, these artworks are reproduced in low resolution (72 dpi) so as to render them of little commercial use. Adequate consent and permission is requested before works are displayed. The website also provides external links to articles, papers, journals, or other domains providing added information on a subject or artist; this helps users gain a rounded knowledge.