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Sculpture

Ogene Midi002

The second movement in the Ogene MIDI series — expanding the sonic and visual vocabulary of the original instrument into new algorithmic territory.

Chidirim Nwaubani/2025/Bronze cast sculpture

The interactive bronze sculptures, which form the core of the Mbari Memorial project, are reimagined versions of the ogene — a traditional iron gong or bell used to summon Igbo communities and mediate between the human and divine.

Chidirim Nwaubani after winning the prize at Investec Cape Town Art Fair

( Info )

At the core of the project are interactive sculptural forms cast in bronze, digitally shaped around the ogene: an iron gong or bell traditionally used to summon Igbo communities and to mediate between the human and the divine, historically forged by specialist blacksmiths. Reimagined by Nwaubani, these sculptural instruments function as conductive interfaces. When participants touch them (often while in contact with one another) electrical circuits are completed, activating the real-time generation of abstract digital forms on connected screens. Each activation produces a unique, time-bound digital sculpture reflected across a three-screen video display, crystallising a moment of collective creation generated through the connection between bodies, archival forms, and the algorithm.

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  1. Ogene MIDI: 002 in cast aluminium, the two forms leaning together, one mouth open to the camera
What cannot be returned, must be reconceived.
  1. The Doyle Wham booth at Investec Cape Town Art Fair — four bronze ogene on blue crates before a generative screen
Ogene MIDI: 002 head on, both triangular mouths open beneath the arching handle
Chidirim NwaubaniOgene Midi: 002, 2025View full size
Ogene MIDI: 002 — the bronze-cast ogene gong with its silver patina
Chidirim NwaubaniOgene Midi: 002, 2025View full size
Ogene Midi: 002

Mbari Memorial ultimately reframes restitution as an imaginative labour: what cannot be returned intact must be collectively rethought. The Mbari house thus becomes, in the artist’s words, “a spiritual and allegorical site, not a collection of objects caged behind glass for passive admiration and economic valuation, but a communal, ritual, and living imperative.”

The process

Behind the scenes + afterthoughts

White 3D-printed prototypes wired with alligator clips beside two laptopsThe form running as a point cloud in TouchDesigner next to the printed prototypesThe studio rig — patch on one screen, wireframe on the other, recorder alongsideCopper components in bubble wrap on the bench, wired and readyChidirim Nwaubani in a hi-vis vest outside Somerset House on install dayA shell of the form coming off the bed of an ELEGOO 3D printerGrey-primed casts drying beside the studio sinkPrimed casts laid out on the paint-covered studio clothThe full set of casts laid out along the studio tableCasts on the table mid-spray, easels stacked behindThe finished metallic casts lined up against the studio windowThe artist holding two of the finished casts in the studioBuilding the electronics from a hotel room in Cape Town, casts on the deskScreens delivered to the booth ahead of the Cape Town Art Fair install

( Project credits )

  • CreatorChidirim Nwaubani
  • CollectionLooty
  • Shown atArt Jameel // London Design Biennale // Cape Town Art Fair
Keep readingNext: Ogene Midi: 003 →
Ogene Midi: 003, 2025Sound

Ogene Midi: 003

Ogene Midi: 001, 2025Sound

Ogene Midi: 001