The artist Otobong Nkanga discusses with the philosopher Emanuele Coccia her ongoing project, Carved to flow, in its 3rd phase, ‘the Germination’. Carved to flow operates currently through a Land Foundation based in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, which revitalizes land, soil, and living ecosystems through regenerative agriculture and the project space Akwa Ibom for contemporary art and new narratives in Athens, curated by Maya Tounta. 

Images by Wannes Cré

Carved to flow was Initiated in 2017 in Athens, in the frame of Documenta 14, as a site-specific installation that took the shape of a soap laboratory in collaboration with Maya Tounta, Vis Olivae, and an extensive network of local producers. In Kassel, the soap called O8 Black Stone, made out of 7 different kinds of oil and butter from across the Mediterranean, Middle East, North, and West Africa, and charcoal, have been disseminated and sold through performative actions. The proceeds from the sale in Kassel and in the following years through a vast network of cultural institutions allowed Nkanga to set up and support the project space in Athens and the Land Foundation in Akwa Ibom. 

Carved to Flow, as a support structure embedded in the social sphere, is an intricate, expansive, and continually transforming artistic process that seeks to create awareness around urgent questions related to land, soil, extraction, networked geographies, economic histories and material entanglements. 

On Carved to flow by Helon Habila. 
Text commissioned for the 2019 Visible Award

https://www.visibleproject.org/blog/text/on-otobong-nkangas-carved-to-flow/

Helon Habila is the author of the novels Waiting for an Angel, Measuring Time, Oil on Water, and Travelers and a nonfiction book, The Chibok Girls. His writing has won numerous awards, including the Caine Prize, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and the Windham-Campbell Prize. He is a professor of creative writing at George Mason University and lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.

On Carved to flow by Sara Alberani
Text commissioned for the 2019 Visible Award

https://www.visibleproject.org/text-4/otobong-nkangas-carved-to-flow/

Sara Alberani expresses her curatorial research in socially engaged art practices concerning communities and public spaces, focusing on long-term projects. Read more…