Kokopelli gallery: Expanding frontiers of traditional art exhibition with NFTs

Technology and innovation are the hallmarks of 21st-century living.

In this interview with ANOTE AJELUOROU, the artist CEO of Kokopelli Gallery, Mr. Dare Herald, says this defining technology will keep art pieces in public discourse long after they would have been acquired by collectors and galleries for the timeless resonance of their messages.

What inspired ‘Kokopelli’ as the name for your gallery?
The name was coined from a need. There is a deity Kokopelli, who was regarded as the god of fertility, and for me as an artist, I’ve always loved the idea of bringing things to life, taking from nothing to something. So, the story of Kokopelli is that of a god who played the flute, and whenever he played the flute, the barren women in the village would all be pregnant by morning, and the dry lands would yield fruits. It resonated with me a lot, because I’ve always loved the idea of bringing things to life. Basically, it’s a story that I could relate with, and Kokopelli is all about storytelling. So, that’s the inspiration for the name of the gallery.

Which community or society does Kokopelli originate from?
It is a native American story, but art is universal, as you know.

The last show you held, ‘Two Brothers and One Lumbo,’ why was it done in such a short period despite the array of themes on display by the 10 artists?
The concept of the exhibition was new to the art market, combining technology with the traditional method of display at the gallery, and also introducing the NFT marketplace for selling. It was more of a test run to see the level of acceptance by the art scene.

We thought it would be better to have a three-day event, so we can see how well it would be received, and to our surprise, we had a great turnout, people liked the idea and it engaged people more than the traditional way of just coming to the gallery and using your eyes to scan through collections and maybe engaging with the works.

At the ‘Two Brothers and One Lumbo’ exhibition, you come into the gallery and you can’t see any pieces except through your phone. You then read the synopsis of the works and digest the concept the artist is portraying. Basically, that was the concept we were trying to achieve. Hence, we didn’t want it to be more than three days for a start.

So you were happy with the outcome of the experiment?
Yes. We were satisfied with it.

When do we look forward to the next show with these NFT concepts being expanded, perhaps?
We’ve had a number of NFT marketplace activities since the exhibition. For Kokopelli, it may be till next year, before the next NFT related activity, but for now, we will sit back and re-strategise; that’s pretty much where we are right now.

Are you a visual artist yourself?
I’m a visual artist and also a collector.
Analyze the concept of the marriage between technology and the traditional way of running a gallery for the audience. At what point did you decide on this, and how far are you ready to take this Kokopelli journey?

The inaugural global exhibition was held last year in October, and at the time, we already had plans of introducing technology, because Kokopelli is a place where we are open to experimentation.

The world is changing, and the NFT market has come to stay. A lot of creatives around the world are doing well in the NFT space and as such, it would be good if Nigerian artists could also be part of it. So, last year, we started planning on merging technology and art and building up the idea of collaborations and bringing these ideas to life. That said, it was pretty much from last year, and wherever we are willing to take it.

As far as NFT market trading goes as I said, it has come to stay and we don’t have any option than to key towards that development, even though it’s not going to be anytime soon because it’s undeniable and we cannot ignore it. The gallery has found a new way of displaying pieces. But yes, from time to time, we’re going to be having exhibitions through the QR code exhibition for the NFT space.

Do you have plans to organise seminars, workshops, or introduce other gallery owners or collaborate with them to key into this innovative idea, or you want to retain the level of monopoly for now?
As much as possible our doors are open for collaborations.

During the 2022 exhibition ‘Two Brothers and One Lumbo’, for instance, we had a conversation on the second day, where we had artists and a range of people shed more light on how NFTs works and what it was all about and what we are trying to achieve. But then, there is going to be another marketplace coming to Kokopelli to have a seminar for curators and also artists on NFT and how they can key into it.

A number of galleries in Nigeria are aware and are having conversations about NFTs, even though they’ve not had an exhibition like the one we had. They are planning to have something like that in the near future. So pretty much, I think the information is going round.

The exhibition, Two Brothers and One Lumbo appeared to have showcased artists engaging in ideas that are around their environment, but they also tend to shy away from being in a space that is overtly political. But here, the exhibition was focused on political discourse, about the upcoming election.

How much of this conversation should we expect among artists and the involvement of artists in the political space that the ‘Two Brothers and One Lumbo’ show did?. How much would you want to see from artists by way of engagement?

Artists are part of society and they can deploy their art to shape opinion. This is pretty much what we are also preaching. Artists are meant to influence thought processes and one of their major functions is influencing ideas in people. I think, for Kokopelli, we’d really love to see this engagement growing stronger. It’s not that we only want to make money; it’s good to make money, but we want to extend it beyond just that.

The reason why you are an artist, the reason why you have that much power is to use it to influence society in a particular direction. The politics of Nigeria at the moment is somewhat dicey.

Someone made a reference to an artist that was using his before 2020, but during the EndSars protest, a lot of youths were into it because his work triggered them. That is to say that as an artist, you have that much power to stir up people’s minds towards the information or an idea. Pretty much, that’s what we want to see, artists should speak up with their pieces, on their canvases, and be involved in politics in addressing socio-political structures.

Your last exhibition was typically political, but it lasted for only three days. So, how does this contribute to the ongoing political dialogue when the art is denied a long shelf life and the message is soon lost or hidden from the public?
Like I said, the world is going digital, and a lot of people are engaged on their phones and all of that, and in ‘Two Brothers and One Lumbo’, for instance, we had almost a thousand visitors for the three days and everybody that scanned had the images on their phones. We saw a lot of people posting the images online, some with the synopsis, etc.

At the end of the day, a lot of people were posting the images online, and it’s different from the past when there were no phones, and you buy the artwork and take them to your place, and all of that. People don’t need to go to exhibitions again to see these pieces.

Even these days, the artist posts the picture of a piece on a website or Instagram (social media), and people get to see it, share it, like it and engage with the pieces. I think it’s a lot better now, as the world has gone digital, and people from different backgrounds engage with an artist’s piece, and that is where NFT comes in.

Those pieces that are online can only be owned by one person who buys it as an NFT. So there are two options to it: you can buy it as an NFT and still own the physical copy, or someone could buy the NFT and someone else buys the physical copy: it’s just always one of one.

As I said, the world has gone digital, so it’s really not of the eyes of the collector and his physical art alone anymore. For instance, Julius Agbaje has a lot of his pieces on his page and there are collectors who can buy them and take to their houses – the physical copies.

A collector can ask him to take a piece already bought down, but the artist of someone else might have shared it with a number of people. I don’t think art, as it is right now, can be hidden these days where we have cameras and all of that. It might not belong to the people that have access, because they have just pictures, but one collector has the right piece and the certificate of authenticity. So, basically, I think things have changed now and people can have access to artwork than they used to.

Speaking of artists being political or not – the artist, whether literary or dramatist, poet, visual artist, actor or musician, somehow tends to feel the pain of the people more when things are going wrong in society. And because of this, they create awareness, taking to their arts to engage with the issues, like the 10 artists in this exhibition did, by exploring the different themes of what they deemed to be wrong in the political setting. Some artists, like some in Nollywood, have ventured into the politics arena. But this is not true with visual artists generally. There isn’t one I know who has actually thrown his hat into the ring.

Why is this so? Why political apathy among visual artists?
I think Tola Wewe was once a commissioner, and apart from him, I know one other person.

But that was an appointive position, not elective…

I think it boils down to choice, and for politics, especially the type practised in Nigeria, it’s a tall order. I remember Ayoola Gbolahan, I think he was contesting for the House of Reps or something like that. I don’t know if he won, like I said, I think it’s a matter of choice. Personally, I love politics and I want to be involved, and there might be others who don’t have that interest at heart. So, I think they are doing their bit.

Before Covid-19, there were some auctions here and there. You are a young gallery, what’s your plan in that direction?
For auctions, it’s in the works. As you said, we’re a young gallery, so we have to take things slow. First, we need to build a community of collectors and people who would come for the auction. It’s better to take things slow and be sure of the strength of the community we’ve built before going into that. In the near future, we are going to work on auctions for Kokopelli Gallery.