Doyle Wham Gallery presents LOOTY · First solo exhibition
Notice of Reclamation
Mon 12 – Sat 17 October 2026 · Frieze Art Week
- Opening
- Mon 12 Oct · 18:00 arrival · 18:30 film screening · 19:30 drinks reception · London time
- Where
- art’otel London Hoxton, London EC2A 3DT (opens in a new tab)
- Entry
- Free · RSVP for opening-week events
Opening week programme
- Mon 12 OctOpening nightArrival · Film screening · Drinks reception18:00 · 18:30 · 19:30 · London timeAdd to calendar
- Thu 15 OctEveningPanel discussion — Where Does an Idea Begin?Hosted by The Beginning · Times to follow · RSVP on DICE ↗ (opens in a new tab)Add to calendar
- Sat 17 OctClosing partyFrieze Art Week closing party@ Jumbi · Times to follow · RSVP →Add to calendar
Free entry · RSVP for these events.
Getting there
art’otel London Hoxton
London EC2A 3DT (opens in a new tab)
Exhibition dates: Mon 12 – Sat 17 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 RSVP to visit?
No. Entry to the exhibition is free from Monday 12 to Saturday 17 October 2026. RSVP is for the three opening-week events — opening night, the panel discussion and the closing party — using the RSVP form.
What happens on opening night?
Monday 12 October at art’otel London Hoxton: 18:00 arrival, 18:30 film screening, 19:30 drinks reception (London time). Add it to your calendar, or RSVP.
How many people can I bring?
Up to four per RSVP, including you — choose the number in the RSVP form.
When are the panel and the closing party?
The panel discussion, Where Does an Idea Begin?, hosted by The Beginning, is on Thursday 15 October in the evening; times to follow — RSVP for it on DICE (opens in a new tab). The Frieze Art Week closing party is on Saturday 17 October at Jumbi; times to follow. RSVP, or join via email for notices.
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.