"Dozie Kanu (b. 1993, Houston, TX) lives and works in Santarém, Portugal. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2016 and participated in the Maumas Independent Study Program in Lisbon in 2022. Kanu’s practice focuses on a concept of sculpture that looks into the limits of form, functionality, materiality and usefulness often filtered through a personal lens drawn from the artist’s lived experiences. His singular visual language criticizes western art history canons by focusing on their diasporic condition while subtly revealing in the objects issues related to domesticity and belonging. His works resist classification and exist concurrently as communicative or performative objects.
Most recently, he exhibited at Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin (2023); Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2023); Quinn Harrelson Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); C-Mine, Genk (2023); Oregon Center for Contemporary Art, Portland (2023); Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich (2022); for Public Art Fund in Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York (2022); SFMOMA, San Francisco (2022); Project Native Informant, London (2022); Neuer Essener Kunstverein, Essen (2022); Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon (2021); Performance Space New York (2021); The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2019);
In this lecture, Kanu will explore the importance of cultivating free improvisational structures for creativity—particularly within capital-intensive disciplines such as filmmaking and video work, large-scale installation, design, and architecture—as a way to maintain artistic integrity while navigating the institutional, financial, and logistical demands of the art world. Drawing from his own experience, he aims to help younger artists understand how to structure their practices in ways that protect their core interests while still moving forward through the often extractive and gatekept landscape of the industry."
*The lecture will be held in English.