When next you’re at the MMA2, step into The Art Experience
By Pelu Awofeso
This week, 16 years ago, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) made national aviation history. On 7 May 2007, a Boeing 727 plane took off at its newly-built terminal in Lagos.
Destination: Kaduna. The flight (NCH 337) was operated by now-defunct Chanchangi Airlines at 5:15 pm, with 70 passengers on board. To mark that occasion, management has opened a gallery, called ‘The Art Experience’.
“This facility, this art centre will be a place where ideas are promoted, developed and fermented for a greater Nigeria,” Wale Babalakin (SAN/ OFR), chairman of the Bi-Courtney group, tells guests and stakeholders after a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony.
He adds that his idea for an airport terminal is a place where people can eat, shop, entertain and, in the process, fly — not where travellers go to queue because they want to fly.
“If you want to fly and have some spare time, you can go to our flower gallery, he continues over cocktails. “You can decide you want to have lunch before you travel. You can decide you want to deal with your telecoms issues — all the big communications companies are here. You can decide to go and stay in the lounge, which has internet services and everything, and do your business.
“What we’ve tried to do is to uplift the standard, with the hope that anybody who wants to build an airport tomorrow will have all these standards incorporated in their airport.”
The first set of works on display at The Art Experience — the space is by the twin escalators (right after the terminal’s exit doors) — are paintings by Engr. Wilson Ugu, who has practiced his art for 32 years.
“We opened a gallery here to promote art, culture and innovation,” Agu tells journalists, on the sidelines of the cocktails, “and to have a platform for the younger people to interact with connoisseurs and art enthusiasts. We want a place where art can live, interact with people and thrive.”
He says he couldn’t have exhibited his works at a better facility, describing the airport in homey terms.
The works, primarily paintings, are a tribute to Nigeria’s vibrant and evocative heritage; it spotlights festivals (one being the Durbar and Argungu Festivals). On the surrealist side, Agu attempts a social commentary on Nigeria’s contemporary politics in a piece titled ‘Contention for Power’.
“The airports are a unique place — like a parlour to a state or country. They are a welcoming space for everybody, and they ought to be the foremost projector of our culture.
And according to Agu, the gallery will double as an event space where accomplished artists will be celebrated periodically. It will also be a grooming ground for younger artists.
