Essay · 2024
Lagos: Performance and Negotiations with the Public Realm
This essay explores how Lagos' public spaces are continually negotiated between formal urban planning and informal everyday use. Papa Omotayo argues that the city's resilience, creativity and culture emerge from these shared spaces, where artists, performers and communities reshape the public realm despite institutional challenges. Drawing on examples from public art interventions, street performances and urban regeneration projects, the essay presents art as a catalyst for civic participation and collective imagination within one of Africa's most dynamic cities.
By Papa Omotayo
Summary
This essay explores how Lagos' public spaces are continually negotiated between formal urban planning and informal everyday use. Papa Omotayo argues that the city's resilience, creativity and culture emerge from these shared spaces, where artists, performers and communities reshape the public realm despite institutional challenges. Drawing on examples from public art interventions, street performances and urban regeneration projects, the essay presents art as a catalyst for civic participation and collective imagination within one of Africa's most dynamic cities.
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