Doyle Wham Gallery presents LOOTY · First solo exhibition
Notice of Reclamation
Mon 12 – Sun 25 October 2026 · Frieze Art Week
- Viewing
- Open viewing until Sun 25 Oct · Private viewings by appointment
- Where
- art’otel London Hoxton, London EC2A 3DT (opens in a new tab)
- Entry
- Free
Visiting the show
- Until Sun 25 OctExtended showOpen viewingFree entry · No booking needed · art’otel London HoxtonAdd to calendar
- By appointmentPrivate viewingPrivate viewing with the galleryA walk through the show, on your own or with guests · Book a time slot →
- Sat 17 OctClosing partyFrieze Art Week closing party@ Jumbi · RSVP closedAdd to calendar
Opening night and the panel discussion have taken place · Free entry throughout the run.
In the gallery
Mbari Memorial at art’otel London Hoxton · Film: Doyle Wham
Getting there
art’otel London Hoxton
London EC2A 3DT (opens in a new tab)
Exhibition dates: Mon 12 – Sun 25 October 2026.
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors
Press, institutional and collector enquiries: hello@doylewham.com
More about the show: read the exhibition announcement →
About the exhibition
A comprehensive look at Chidi Nwaubani’s recent practice — from the Cape Town Art Fair and the Venice Biennale to The Rosetta Code — anchored by Mbari Memorial, an installation where touch is required and your bodies close the circuit.
Mbari Memorial
Drawing from the Nigerian Igbo tradition of Mbari houses — sacred architectures built collectively as offerings to the earth goddess Ala, historically eradicated under British colonial rule — the installation approaches the practice not as a lost artefact to preserve, but as a methodology of community-making to continue today.
Interactive ogene sculptures, cast in bronze and presented on informal-market bottle crates, act as conductive interfaces. When participants make contact with the artwork and one another, they complete an electrical circuit that generates a unique digital sculpture — downloadable, with no usage restrictions. Restitution reframed as collective, imaginative labour.
What cannot be returned intact must be collectively rethought.
If a Tree Falls…
A digital collage series that deconstructs early 20th-century ethnographic photographs of Mbari houses. By erasing the human figures and introducing recurring Uli motifs, the works highlight the absence of cultural continuity in the colonial archive.
Also showing
Award-winning work from the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Tomorrows/Today Prize, 2026), pieces exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and material from the ABC documentary Stuff the British Stole: The Rosetta Code.
Rooted in critical museology, African epistemologies and digital practice, the exhibition interrogates the extraction and archiving of African cultural heritage — and proposes a shift from object-centred preservation toward collective, living forms of cultural recovery.
FAQ
Do I need to book to visit?
No. Open viewing is free until Sunday 25 October 2026 — just come. If you would like a private viewing with the gallery, book a time slot.
What is a private viewing?
A walk through the show with the gallery, on your own or with guests, at a time you choose. Pick a slot with Book a private viewing; the booking goes straight into the diary and you get a confirmation by email.
How many people can I bring to a private viewing?
Small groups are welcome — say how many you are bringing in the notes when you book, so the gallery can plan the time.
What about the opening-week events?
Opening night and the panel discussion, Where Does an Idea Begin?, have taken place — the panel, in pictures →. RSVP for the Frieze Art Week closing party at Jumbi on Saturday 17 October has closed. Join via email to hear about what comes next.
Can I touch the work?
Yes — Mbari Memorial is built for it. Bronze-cast ogene sculptures on bottle crates act as conductive interfaces; when visitors touch them together the circuit closes and generates a digital sculpture you can download, with no usage restrictions.
Where is it, and how do I get there?
art’otel London Hoxton, London EC2A 3DT (opens in a new tab). Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab) or Apple Maps (opens in a new tab) for directions.
Press, institutional or collector enquiries?
Email hello@doylewham.com.
About the artist
Chidirim Nwaubani is a creative technologist and artist working between Dubai and London. In 2020 he founded LOOTY, a digital platform repatriating stolen African artefacts into the metaverse — scanning looted objects and reconstructing them as freely accessible digital works. He has shown at the Venice Biennale Architettura and the London Design Biennale, where Ogene MIDI received an Honorary Mention.