A fair is a team
We talk about an art fair as if it is one name and a list of galleries. ART X Lagos is Tokini Peterside-Schwebig's, and has been since 2016, and this year 15 galleries showed at the Federal Palace. Read the programme properly, though, and you find 16 people with a job each, most of them curators, almost one for every room.
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig
The room I keep thinking about
Dr Jareh Das curated Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel, and the decision I love most is that Kwali does not stand alone in it. Kande Ushafa and Asibi Ido, two women potters, share the room with her, beside traditional work by Gbari, Nupe and Bida potters. Kwali's face has been in our pockets for years on the ₦20 note, and here the women who carry her craft today are shown at the same height as her.
Ladi Kwali
Around that room, Ndidi Dike brought a capsized canoe that points to Badagry, curated by N'Goné Fall. Yinka Bernie turned a Lagos footbridge into sound with Papa Omotayo and Fikayo Adebajo. Missla Libsekal curated a library, Lanre Masha curated the concert, and Tolulope Ami-Williams got visitors rolling clay.
What I want from every event
ART X published a name and a job for every strand of its programme before the doors opened, and that made this edition easy to write. Too often the credit for a big Lagos moment stops at the name on the poster, and the people who shaped it are left for us to dig out. If an art fair can publish who curated its library, every show, festival and launch in this city can publish who made it happen. I would love ART X to be the standard the rest of us are measured against.
The full team sheet
Founder and Director: Tokini Peterside-Schwebig
Curator, ART X ICON, Ladi Kwali: Beyond the Vessel: Dr Jareh Das
Potters, Beyond the Vessel: Kande Ushafa, Asibi Ido
Artist, Special Project, Residues of Past Encounters, 2024 to 2026: Ndidi Dike
Curator, Residues of Past Encounters: N'Goné Fall
Artist and Producer, Moving Parts: Yinka Bernie
Curators, Moving Parts: Papa Omotayo, Fikayo Adebajo
Curator, ART X Library: Missla Libsekal
Filmmaker, Mothers of Chibok, ART X Cinema: Joel 'Kachi Benson
Curator, ART X Live!: Lanre Masha
Schools' Programme: Tolulope Ami-Williams, with Teach For Nigeria
RESONANCE residents: Sada Ibrahim Malumfashi (curator), Timilehin Emmanuel Osanyintolu (visual artist), Orinayo Ayotemi Odubawo (designer)
Honoured: Ladi Dosei Kwali (1925 to 1984)
ART X Live! performers: EKENE, Solana, Kunmie, Lodù, LULU., Taves, Nora, WEAREALLCHEMICALS (Blessing Ewona)
Main Section galleries: Affinity Art Gallery, Afriart Gallery, Alexis Galleries, AMG Projects, Gallery 1957, kó, Kokopelli Gallery, Nike Art Gallery, O'DA Art, SMO Contemporary Art, TAFETA, Yenwa
Spotlight Section galleries: Adegbola Gallery, Nomadic Art Gallery, Windsor Gallery
If you worked on ART X Lagos 2026 and your name is missing, send us your name and your job and we will add you.
The carousel version of this team sheet is on our Instagram. @escapemaghq