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MAD House: No More Art For Art’s Sake But Art For Economic’s Sake- A Dialogue With Bayo Omoboriowo.
As the beauty of creativity can be traced to it being a spontaneous overflow of emotion, the concept of art for art’s sake which has infused several movements in the world of art has served as a limiting factor to the commercialization of art product over many centuries. As a phrase that expresses the philosophy that true art should be independent of any social value and utilitarian function such as moral, social, didactic or political but purely for its formal and aesthetic qualities, listening to the Official Photographer of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Bayo Omoboriowo on Channel TV in a programme tagged: Sunrise Daily of 22nd January 2024, defending the economic function of art, particularly on how to harness its economic viability and make Nigeria a meeting point of creativity, did not only re-validate my position on this aged long debate about art for art’s sake but also bring to fore, the need for Nigeria and by extension Africa to take its stand in support of the commercialization of art.
MAD House by Bayo Omoboriowo is an innovative incubator for creatives. By its inauguration on Friday, December 15, 2023, it officially joined the communities of revolution against the idea of art for art’s sake which has its origin in nineteenth-century France, where it became associated with writers and artists who situate the idea that art should stand apart from all thematic, moral and social concern. But with later development according to Victoria and Albert Museum, the aesthetic projection of art finally ended following the scandal of the trial, conviction and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde for homoxesuality in 1895. During this era, scholars began to see works that were associated with art for art’s sake as frivolous and lack moral and purpose. As this dovetailed into the twentieth century, the concept of art for art’s sake gradually fell out of fashion as many leading twentieth-century artists dismissed it. The twentieth century therefore was basically the age of interrogation because scientific revolution and changing social, political, moral and economic conditions have reshaped man’s faith with increase in skepticism and the demand for new sets of values, therefore the gradual rejection of the doctrine of art for art’s sake with new creed of art for life’s sake or art for community’s sake.
So, it was in line with art for life sake and art for community sake that Mad House (Make A Difference) was built. Constructed with about twenty six convoluted containers, it is a rare aesthetic masterpiece with the purpose of serving as a Creative Incubator, Accelerator and Research Institute that is dedicated to knowledge sharing, shaping and sharpening which are essential parts of growth. This house is therefore an apt reaction to everyday demand of the creative industry in Nigeria and by extension, Africa where there is a rising awareness of the huge contribution of visual arts such as painting, drawing, printing, ceramics craft, architecture, sculpture, printmaking, filmmaking, video, photography, design and other to Nigeria’s identity and general development.
The visionary, Omoboriowo, explained in his conversation with channels that Mad House is out to serve as the hub of creativity and lead the journey of radically transforming the landscape of Nigeria by creating an economy that works for the creatives. In achieving this, the house will bring about the convergence of talents who are ready to be intentional about building their skills and develop it through interaction with the right people to exchange ideas that will create a unique way of telling their story. This convergence of ideas will lead to healthy competition that would make artists to think more and do more thereby bringing about innovations that will improve creative industry in the area of job creation because according to him, when you think more, you will develop idea that will make you do more. When you do more, you will create more and need people to help you. When this chain continues however, the society will definitely benefit from it.
Another purpose that MAD House would serve will be to draw attention to Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage by encouraging the use of locally sourced material to produce photographic equipment and other arts, a process that would discourage our over reliance on foreign materials. This of course will create market for us as well as making Nigeria a market for the world. The state of the art studio for film making and photography built in MAD House is a testimony of our rich locally source materials that are still unharnessed. The House is also modeled to revive Nigeria’s craft industry that is beginning to recede at the international level despite our great history in this regard.
As the history of Nigerian craft can be traced back to the Neolithic period when early inhabitants made pottery and stone tools, the journey has improved overtime with different ethnic groups having their unique identity in this regard. For instance, as the Yoruba people are known for beadwork, the Hausa people are known for leader working skills. Yes, our craft industry suffered a significant setback during colonial era but the time has now presented us with the opportunity in MAD House to revisit our craft industry. We must decide this time to revive the lost glory of the industry to generating employment again. The production of masks, figurine, drums and furniture through carving must resume again to reducing our unnecessary craze for foreign product.
Benin bronze works such as tusks and figurine has been recognized over many centuries as extraordinary example of African arts while excavation at Ife and other parts of Yorubaland have shown that sculptures in brass and poetry were being produced between 1100 and 1450CE and some of them may represent royal figure and their attendants. As most of these sculpture shows the importance of the community where it is discovered, it would have been best to preserve most of these in a museum where they will in turn preserve our culture for children and generation yet unborn to have at least, a glimpse into the past but the reverse is the case as Nigeria cannot even boast of a good museum that preserves our heritage. With effective collaboration with government, MAD House has the capacity to jack some of these back to life.
Already, as a solution provider, Bayo Omoboriowo with the goal of cultivating sustainable creative industries through massive investment on talent, provision of financial support and mentorship, has commenced the pilot scheme of the process of empowering aspiring entrepreneurs and creative professionals with remarkable opportunity through Lens-Based Incubator Program (lensBIP). LensBIP, being a programme that is out to transform visionary ideas into impactful products and services, will help beneficiaries to access specialized workshops, industrial collaborations, internship and other programmes aimed at refreshing their skills for global impact. In this direction, Professor Ogunsola, the Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos, believes that creatives through their limitless imagination using the opportunity provided by lensBIP, would have the power to design a viable future not only for Nigeria but the continent of Africa and the world
Corroborating on the initiative of Omoboriowo, Professor Ogunsola expressed her desire to seeing MAD House also changing the perception by bringing the value of the creatives into the sciences and through their power of imagination Africanise technology such as car design or innovative way of improving housing using locally sourced materials such as clay or container as seen in MAD House itself. As she also expressed her joy that UNILAG is leading the nation in this regard, Prof Ogunsola must ensure that Omoboriowo’s effort does not start and end in UNILAG because leadership has its way of killing vision in Nigeria. She should collaborate with the young man to ensure that every institution in Nigeria has a MAD House where MAD creator can carry out their MAD creativity using local materials that are peculiar with their environment. Because there are other great local materials such as clay in many communities across Nigeria that can be used for various models of MAD Houses if the opportunities are presented to the locals. Like the spread of virus as she charged, she should ensure that under her watch, UNILAG taps into the opportunity presented by this iconic house to become the vanguard of creativity among Nigerian youths and in our institutions.
As the problem with Nigeria is not the lack of institution but poor maintenance culture, having promised the unwavering support of the school management in promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to push the boundaries of creative expression, it is the primary responsibility of the University through her leadership to also team up with government to making sure this initiative balloon into deluge and spread across other faculties. Also, as one of the corporate objectives of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is to promote creative and innovative approach to educational learning and services plus provision of funding for educational facilities and infrastructural development, the attention of TETFund should be called towards replicating this to other institutions of higher learning in Nigeria. Our revered National University Commission should also not allow innovation like this pass by without a place in the curriculum. By this act NUC would have built a home of creativity and a place where every creative endeavour will transform from being an abstract to becoming a wealthy reality. This is because as the visionary posits, “creativity cannot play a backbencher in the future that Africa needs.”
As LensBIP pledges to reward participants with seed funding of close to $10,000 to start their creative venture and also present their business plan to panel of judges for further privileges, well do to members of the society, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), private institutions and government at all levels are urged to partner with MAD House to rescue our youths. Expectedly, the problem of youth unemployment in Nigeria is not the absence of idea or as a result of laziness as many erroneously think, but sponsorship or you call it capital to nurture their ingenuity to fruition. So, with robust partnership with this initiative, programmes would be rolled out to engage many young Nigerian who would in a long run also become employer of labour. Our ministers of youths should also see MAD House as a means of reaching out to the youths and empowering them through various crafts which Nigeria was once known for but die because of prodigal and selfish leaders. We must not forget in a hurry that the revival of our craft is the revival of our lost heritage.
In all, MAD House should bring about revolution in the creative industry and in employment generation. For instance, a market of MAD Houses situated in say 30 hectares of land to become the largest creative village in Africa as proposed by Omoboriowo, would also serve as the largest employment creation market not only in Nigeria but also in Africa. President Tinubu should in particular look in the direction of making the dream of this creative village a reality which I believe would bring about massive youth empowerment. Already, there exist GSM villages in Lagos, Abuja and other cities in Nigeria, which is a sought after neighbourhood where phone and gadget markets dominated mainly by retailers whose primary aim is to make profit, converged. Those who know games villages in Nigerian would attest to it being a rich source of employment generation. Such can be replicated in the creative sector of the economy to further reduce the burden of job creation on government and make creatives employers of labour.
The rescue mission of Omoboriowo must therefore not be misconstrued or perhaps we live in the denier of the fact that arts have been endangered since the arrival of nineteenth century when a new technology was introduced into art’s natural habitat. We must also not shy away from the truth that the abandonment of craft industry in Nigeria such as carpentry, pottery and others have added to the challenge of unemployment and left our natural endowment to waste away. But we must be ready to arrest the process that has made us to depend on foreign product such as toothpick and furniture in our homes despite being endowed with varieties of forests with abundant wood. Effort must be concerted to ensure an end to the era when creativity dies from toxic, hopeless and frustrated environment. We must never allow the death of MAD House.
By Olushola Omogbehin a public affairs analyst Writes from Abuja Nigeria omogbehino@yahoo.com 08069220040
