FRIEZE ABU DHABI

Drawing on structures such as cellular formations, the nests of the Arabian paper wasp, and the burrows of the dhub, the presentation proposes that these microscopic patterns are living architectures through which nature organizes and sustains itself.

Resembling talismans, altars, and devotional instruments, the sculptural works are built from an accumulation of threads, fibers, knots, and metal components, including recycled ocean plastic fiber, organic cotton, wool, and recycled nylon and metals. The process echoes the artist’s broader practice, informed by ancestral knowledge, African traditions of modularity, and animist understandings of the natural world.

“Each work becomes both object and threshold: a physical structure pointing toward realities beyond itself. Together, they form a constellation of portals into the hidden architectures of life. To look closely is to enter another world. Within every world, another world awaits.” — Yussef Agbo-Ola

Agbo-Ola has developed an internationally recognised practice through projects that move fluidly between contemporary art, architecture, and environmental research. His work has been presented at major international exhibitions including the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial in the UAE, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, the Lagos Biennial, and the Wuhan Biennale, and at institutions such as Serpentine Gallery, Palais de Tokyo, Van Abbemuseum, Museum Folkwang, Tai Kwun Contemporary, and Schering Stiftung.