The Woman Changing How Art Fairs are Done
Courtesy of ART X Lagos.
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig
The Woman Changing How Art Fairs are Done
By Bonnie Langedijk
Tokini Peterside-Schwebig isn’t just building an art fair—she’s redefining it. As the founder and CEO of ART X Lagos, Peterside-Schwebig has created an influential platform that puts Lagos on the global art map. Founded in 2016, the fair has since become the leading international art fair in West Africa. Led by a deep artistic integrity with a commitment to sharing the story of Africa through those who’ve been building its art scene for decades, the founder and CEO has created an event that celebrates culture and artistry. She’s cultivated a cultural dialogue that calls into question not only how Africa’s art is consumed but who gets to tell these stories and shape the perspectives.
As ART X Lagos isn’t just another art fair, it’s managed to seamlessly connect all cultural disciplines From launching ART X Live! to introducing the ART X Prize, Peterside-Schwebig has established an ecosystem that supports emerging artists and engages diverse audiences, blurring lines between art, music, and fashion while staying deeply connected to the local community of artists, gallerists and collectors. In a world where art fairs often serve as vessels for exclusivity, ART X Lagos does the opposite—it opens its doors to dialogue, community, and cross-cultural exchange. Under Peterside-Schwebig’s leadership, the fair has become a celebration of not only contemporary African art but also of the city of Lagos itself, inviting global audiences to see the vibrance of Nigeria from a vantage point shaped by those who call it home.
Galerie MAM at ART X Lagos.
Peterside-Schwebig during a private tour talking guests through the Crossroad project at ART X Lagos.
Art X Lagos sits on the intersection of art, fashion, design and music. What's the lens through which you curate all of those different disciplines together, and how do you think they can authentically coexist and collaborate?
Tokini: From day one, Art X Lagos was a space to celebrate the visual arts, but also a place to think about those intersections between art and music. We brought music into the fair because Lagos, Nigeria is Africa's music capital. Subsequently, we launched art and film, and fashion also plays a role in the fair just by virtue of what the fair's audience brings into the experience. We have always been one to blur the lines. It stems from our belief that each individual comes to creativity and absorbs creativity in different ways. As our audiences are not one-dimensional, we strive to be multidimensional in what we present.
“We have always been one to BLUR the lines. It stems from our belief that each individual comes to creativity and absorbs creativity in different ways.”
It's a people-first approach where I think most existing art fairs put institutions first. The impact and the power of an art fair are also about the cultural activation throughout the city. How have you been able to tap into those existing communities in Lagos?
Tokini: There is a lively community of cultural practitioners and entrepreneurs in Lagos. This community has grown exceedingly in the nine years since we began the fair. When we were creating the fair, we wanted to ensure that—especially for guests coming in from international environments—would get to see Lagos at its very best. We also knew that what we were doing was creating a moment for Lagos on the global arts calendar. We very enthusiastically engage with the culture scene locally, because this is a culture scene that we know intrinsically. Art X Lagos has been the principal catalyst in the creation of the art week that some now call Lagos Art Week. Nine years ago, no one was speaking about that. The reason it exists today is because the fair has stretched out. For those of us who want to see a rebalancing of how Lagos, Nigeria and Africa are engaged globally, it becomes very important to have those collaborations and to think about what it means to create that moment for our city and how we want our city represented in the global conversation.
Then it also becomes such a bigger purpose than just a commercial one.
Tokini: Yes, and what you said about going beyond the commercial is essential. We've often had guests or writers come to the fair and after experiencing it, challenge us about whether art fair is actually the right word to use in describing what we do. The truth is the right word doesn't exist. We are an art fair that sees itself as playing a very strong developmental role in society and community. We run programs with emerging artists, providing them with grants and residencies. We run programs with school children from underserved communities. We run panel discussions targeted at the artist and young curator community. What we’re doing is twisting a Western model in a way that it’s relevant to our audiences. If it means that we’re part of the evolution of what an art fair will be in decades to come, then we're happy to be part of that.
It all depends on from what viewpoint you're looking at it. The art world is still this singular concept, but there are so many versions of the art world, whether it's in terms of location, in terms of emerging or contemporary versus very established. From your point of view, how would you define the art world you live in and what are the key elements or key figures who shape that?
Tokini: It's a really interesting question because it feels as though they exist in two layers. Those of us who are practicing while working on the Continent are in communion with each other. One of the reasons Art X Lagos came into being was because I wanted to build that bridge not just with Nigeria and international markets, but also with the rest of the continent. Art X Lagos has become one of those bridges in the sense that it brings together people from all over the world who are curious to explore what we’re doing on the African continent. It means that you’re existing in this multi-layered plane. You’re building for the local and the global, because today your audience, because of the age in which we live in, is instantly global.
Opening Ceremony, Friday November 1st, 2024. Courtesy of ART X Lagos.
Attendees at ART X Live!
How would you describe Art X Lagos to someone who has never experienced it? How is it different from other international art fairs? Every art fair kind of has its own identity, right?
Tokini: We're different in many ways. We see ourselves as a gathering place where you come to explore the most exceptional art, music, film, culture, storytelling from across Africa and made by Africans. It's a space to be provoked, to be challenged and hopefully inspired. It's incredibly energized as far as fairs go. This art fair is not about just viewing a work on a wall. It's a space that's about bringing people into a dialogue. If you know anything about the people of Lagos, our audience is not passive. They’re the ones who make it come to life. Today, galleries make up only half of our fair. The rest of it is a blend of curated storytelling exhibitions and projects.
I think the perception of contemporary African art in the west as well as on a global scale has changed. What do you think has contributed to that shift?
Tokini: We have many conversations about that label African art. I struggle sometimes with that question of what has caused this emergence, because from where I sit, this has consistently been propelling forward. I sit as part of a movement of people who have been pushing art forward from this continent for years. The Dakar Biennale, for example, is the strongest biennale on the continent, and has existed since the 1990s. There are art spaces that have existed since the 80s and 90s. You have workshops, movement and art schools that were happening in the 50s and 60s. I think it's more a reflection on the rest of the world opening up truly to global diversity and recognizing the representation by Africa is essential in the global conversation.
I couldn't agree more. For Western countries, it's been such a blind spot.
Tokini: What's remarkable is that there are so many women at the helm of this movement; exceptional artists, curators, gallery or fair owners. It's a space where female entrepreneurs, female cultural practitioners have been free to truly express that innovative spirit. It's great to be part of.
It is. I can imagine you get a lot of cross-generational touchpoints as well at the fair.
Tokini: We do. Art X Lagos is a truly intergenerational experience. In designing that experience we're always thinking about these different audiences. What do we want them to leave with? This year's theme for the fair is Promised Lands. I don't know if you are aware, but Nigeria's economy is going through a difficult time.
Yes, I know
Tokini: We started thinking how we could be part of a base of inspiration for society? Taking people's minds to a place, where they can think about new freedoms, social freedoms, political freedoms, artistic freedoms, cultural freedoms. We have a section at the fair this year called The Speaker's Corner, where we're inviting the audience after they've encountered the fair to come forward and express themselves what they feel in response to a number of prompts and questions. There’s a lot of a focus on change in the African narrative. We also want to think about the reality for the everyday individual, what is the contribution towards that? How can we inspire our fair audiences to become social actors if they wish to be?
A student at the fair’s Speaker’s Corner. Courtesy of ART X Lagos.
Tiwani Contemporary at ART X Lagos. Courtesy of ART X Lagos.
Visitors of cultural events rarely get to express themselves. It's often very top down instead of bottom up. It's a very refreshing approach. To build community dialogue is critical, there needs to be an exchange.
Tokini: We see Art X Lagos as a space for discovery, engagement, community and dialogue for our audiences. We have to think about things that our counterparts in New York, Basel and London just don't have to. In those cities you have vast cultural infrastructure. You have museums and art centers doing some of that work. On the continent no entity is just one thing. For us as an art fair in Nigeria, to serve the audience and the people for which this was created, we are consistently evolving along with what society needs. And then we have this international community that wants to experience what we’re doing. People want to be part of that conversation because it questions how we can inspire a vision for the future.
What excites you about the future?
Tokini: One thing that excites me is the sheer volume of young people on this continent. The median age in Africa is 19. This is a generation who have a visibility to what's happening around the world that my generation didn't have. When we were younger, Instagram didn't exist, TikTok didn't exist. You couldn't open up your mobile phone, if you even had one, to see what someone in Amsterdam or Turkey was getting up to. Now you can. I'm excited to see how the next African generation is going to respond to this global cultural exchange and this continuous influence of ideas. I'm excited to see what work they're going to create, what stories and narratives they're going to decide are important for their time.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
