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Experiences

Exhibitions

2025London Design BiennaleLondon, United Kingdom
2024Mesh FestivalBasel, Switzerland
2024Art DubaiDubai, UAE
2024NFT ParisParis, France
2024Something Art SpaceAbidjan, Ivory Coast
2024La Biennale di Venezia — MnemonicThe Laboratory of the Future · Venice, Italy
2024Afterimage Vol. 3Virtual presentation · Columbia University, USA
2023KryptomaniaThe Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, Germany
2023Carrie Mae Weems ConveningBrown University Arts Institute, USA
20231-54 Contemporary African Art FairSomerset House, London, UK
2023Turbine FestivalJohannesburg, South Africa
2023Milele MuseumGoethe Institut, Kigali, Rwanda
2022Non-Fungible CastlePrague, Czech Republic
2022Maison du LuminairxeG.A.S Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria

Talks & Workshops

2024Royal College of ArtLondon, United Kingdom
2024Battle for the MuseumsFighting back against cultural colonialism · London
2024Communicating the ArtsThe Louvre, Paris, France
2024Cultures of RestitutionThe University of Chicago, USA
2024Rwandan Ethnographic MuseumGoethe Institut, Kigali, Rwanda
2024Museum of West African ArtsEdo State, Nigeria
2024NBO LitfestNairobi, Kenya

Education

2009BA (Hons) Graphic Information DesignUniversity of Westminster, London

Press

2024The GuardianHow radical art duo Looty repatriated the Rosetta Stone
2024The Art NewspaperCan location-specific digital technologies resolve restitution?
2024NoemaThe Artists Digitally Liberating Colonial Plunder
2024Museums & Social IssuesA journal of reflective discourse
2023The New YorkerA High-Tech Heist at the British
2023The New York TimesA ‘Digital Heist’ Recaptures the Rosetta Stone
2023CNNHow a dog stolen from China sparked a British luxury craze
2022ArtnetMeet Looty, the project that infiltrates museums
2022BBC NewsNigeria’s Looty seeks to reclaim African art in digital form
2022ARTnews‘Digital Restitution’ for looted African art
2022ReutersLooty launches digital art heists to reclaim African artifacts
2022ForbesCan NFTs help reclaim Africa’s looted cultural heritage?
2022FuturismArt plundered from Africa stolen back, sold as NFTs
2022OutlandMeaningful Returns
2020FriezeHow NFTs and 3D printing are changing restitution
Skillsets

Skillsets

01AR / XR Experiences
023D Scanning & LiDAR
03Digital Restitution
04Installation Art
05Creative Direction
06Product Design
07Graphic Design
08Public Speaking

Softwares

Lens Studio
Blender
Cinema 4D
Polycam + LiDAR
Unity
Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
TouchDesigner

Languages

English / Native
Igbo / Conversational
Profile

Chidi Nwaubani

Chidi Nwaubani

Chidi Nwaubani is a Nigerian-British, London-based multidisciplinary artist and designer working at the intersection of cultural heritage, social activism, and technological innovation. He is the founder of LOOTY, a collaborative art collective pursuing cultural restitution through conceptually-driven projects.

At the heart of his practice is the “digital heist”: using LiDAR scanning to create detailed 3D models of artifacts — such as the Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone — held within Western museum collections, then transforming those digital surrogates into immersive experiences, archives, and critical artworks that challenge the limitations of physical restitution.

His installation “Mnemonic”, featured at the Venice Biennale, fused modular crates inspired by Nigerian recycling practices with augmented reality — using the past to build the future, rooted in an “Africa first” mentality.

hi@chidi.cowww.looty.artDownload CV ↓