Wole Soyinka: Antiquities Across Times and Place

Organised by Wole Soyinka Foundation and New York University, Palermo Capitale della Cultura 2018.

What does it mean when artists collect other arts, especially those outside their own practices? Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka avidly collects sculptural and other visual art forms from Africa as references that are significant for their spatial and temporal denotations but also arguably for his dramaturgy and literature. Diverse in media and textual tones – stone, clay, bronze, wood and shell, Soyinka’s collection is deliberately eclectic and reflects a persistent practice of adding to his archives.