The LAGOS OPEN RANGE is a public space project of The Nlele Institute (TNI) designed to facilitate the propagation of contemporary photography and video arts in Nigeria. It is a platform of visibility for young emerging artists both on the local and international art scene. It is an open space for the interaction between the artists and the viewing public where the role of the latter will be as an active agent in the creation of meaning and agent in the realization of the artwork itself.

The OPEN RANGE will allow viewer participation that will narrow the gap or distance between the producer and the recipient, between the creative and the non-creative demography. It will also bring together or merge the artistic life and the everyday public life. This project will highlight the role and position of art in the life of a community where public learning can be promoted. The role of the artist as a social communicator and catalyst will also be highlighted.

The OPEN RANGE Project is a creative, development and exchange program that will involve artists, curators, the public and scholars in Lagos under the TNI platform. It is a public space artistic and cultural interaction designed to blur the distinction between an art product and a lived experience, a participation that will remove the securities of distance and the gap between the producer and the recipient, between artistic and non-artistic everyday life. The project will interrogate everyday life experiences within the complex social construct of Lagos and other parts of Nigeria. TNI, their collaborators and partners will develop interdisciplinary art projects (with a focus on photography, video art and lens-based media) that will link artistic practices in public spaces with a critical interrogation of society.

This project is also designed to promote collaboration among local and international artists, curators, art institutions and galleries as well as open up opportunities for these collaborations to thrive.