Demas Nwoko: Golden Lion For Lifetime Achievement Of The Biennale Architettura 2023

The Nigerian born artist, designer and architect Demas Nwoko, is the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia entitled The Laboratory of the Future.

Demas Nwoko is a Nigerian born artist, protean designer, architect and master builder who was at the forefront of Nigeria’s Modern Art movement. As an artist, he strives to incorporate modern techniques in architecture and stage design to enunciate African subject matter in most of his works. In the 1960s, he was a member of the Mbari Club of Ibadan, a committee of burgeoning Nigerian and foreign artists.

The decision was approved by La Biennale’s Board of Directors chaired by Roberto Cicutto, upon recommendation by Lesley Lokko (curator of this year’s Biennale) who stated “Baba (a Nigerian honorific title) Demas Nwoko is everything all at once: an architect, sculptor, designer, writer, set designer, critic, and historian. When pushed, he refers to himself as an “artist-designer”, which speaks both to the polyglot nature of his talents and oeuvres, and to the rather narrow interpretation of the word ‘architect’ that has arguably kept his name out of the annals.”

The awards ceremony and inauguration of the Biennale Architettura 2023 will be held on Saturday 20th May, 2023 at Ca’ Giustinian, headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia.