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Sculpture

Ogene Midi004

The fourth and most recent Ogene MIDI work — a culmination of the series, integrating live performance and real-time generative systems.

Chidirim Nwaubani/2026/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.

Ogene Midi: 004 — view 2

( 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. The two bronze bells of Ogene MIDI: 004 lying together on the studio floor
What cannot be returned, must be reconceived.
  1. Macro of the cast surface where the two halves meet at the ring
The bells from above, joined at the ring, their mouths turned outward
Chidirim NwaubaniOgene Midi: 004, 2026View full size
Ogene Midi: 004 — view 1
Chidirim NwaubaniOgene Midi: 004, 2026View full size
Ogene Midi: 004

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.”

Ogene Midi: 004 — view 5
Chidirim NwaubaniOgene Midi: 004, 2026View full size

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
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