The artist Otobong Nkanga and the architect Nuno Vasconcelos share their artistic research and practice in relation to the long-term project Carved to Flow in a public lecture (Guess who's coming to dinner) with students and researchers of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.


Replay livestream recording of the lecture

Carved to Flow was conceived as a support structure actively embedded in the social sphere. It is an intricate, expansive and continually transforming work that seeks to create awareness around the networked geographies, economic histories and affective entanglements that inform the creation of everyday products. The work consists of performance, installation, enterprise and charitable work. At documenta 14 in Athens where it was first presented, it took the form of a soapmaking laboratory installation. In Kassel, it transformed into a sculptural installation composed of a soap I made called O8 Black Stone that was disseminated and sold through performances. The ‘laboratory’ and ‘warehouse’ phases, as these were called, sought to provide audiences with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the different oils that make up the soap’s primary ingredients, and at the same time reflect on the economic transactions through which these materials are placed in circulation. Currently, in its third phase titled ‘germination’, the work has been redirecting its profits and seeks to support the activities of two spaces it has set up in Athens and Nigeria which will serve as bases for research and exchange on material entanglements structured around exhibitions, workshops, and events.