On this week’s episode of The Pearl Lam Podcast, Tosin Oshinowo challenges the assumption that African aesthetics have always been defined by vivid colour, elaborate pattern and maximalism.

Instead, she points to traditions of restraint, simple forms and materials used honestly, while ...some of the visual codes now associated with the continent arrived through much more complicated histories of trade and exchange.

It’s a fascinating example of how repetition can turn an interpretation into an apparent truth.

Discover the full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanDesign #Architecture #DesignHistory

What if constraint creates better ideas than abundance?

Tosin Oshinowo sees Lagos as a city where constant adaptation has produced extraordinary creativity across architecture, fashion, music and design.

When people cannot rely on perfect systems or unlimited resources, they are ...forced to invent.

And perhaps that is precisely what makes Lagos so creatively interesting.

Discover the full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #Lagos #Creativity #AfricanDesign

Yesterday marked the first live recording of The Pearl Lam Podcast at Contemporary Istanbul.

I couldn’t have asked for a better guest for the first live show than Ali Güreli, founder and Chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, or a more fitting setting than the fair he created.

...Thank you to Ali for joining me and to the Contemporary Istanbul team for making it possible.

I can’t wait to share the full conversation with you!

#ThePearlLamPodcast #ContemporaryIstanbul #PearlLam #AliGüreli

Architecture is more than just structure; it is the physical manifestation of identity and history.

Joining The Pearl Lam Podcast, Tosin Oshinowo speaks about a generation of African architects reclaiming that identity on their own terms. Not by reproducing the past, but by allowing ...history, climate, materials and culture to shape something contemporary.
The full episode is out now on YouTube & Spotify.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanArchitecture #CulturalIdentity #Architecture

I caught up with Kulapat Yantrasast at Contemporary Istanbul and heard about the incredible projects he’s got going on.

From two wings at the Louvre to the National Museum of India, Kulapat has extraordinary work underway. There’s a distinct similarity in our thinking, the importance ...of cultural dialogue. Bringing different cultural histories into conversation and giving people a chance to understand one another better. 

And it’s exactly that empathy that we need more of.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryIstanbul #KulapatYantrasat #IstanbulArt #ContemporaryArt

What does it mean to build a museum for the art of the future?

That was part of Andrew Carnegie’s thinking when he founded the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh in 1895, with the ambition of creating a collection of the “Old Masters of tomorrow”.

More than a century later, I ...found that idea particularly interesting while visiting the Carnegie Museum of Art. Its collection moves across painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design and architecture, reflecting how dramatically our understanding of what belongs inside a museum has expanded since Carnegie’s time.

I visited while exploring Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in Pennsylvania, and it offered another perspective on the cultural legacy of this part of America. The wealth generated by Pittsburgh’s industrial age did not only transform business and the city itself. It also created institutions intended to shape its cultural life for generations.

Whatever one thinks of the great industrialists of that period, the scale of their cultural ambition is difficult to ignore.

#PearlLam #CarnegieMuseumOfArt #Pittsburgh #Art #ArtsAndCulture

At Contemporary Istanbul, I wanted to show the extraordinary relationship Su Xiaobai has with lacquer, texture and the traditions behind Chinese material culture.

Look closely at the cracked finishes and you can see echoes of celadon and old roof tiles. Even the smaller works use original ...roof tiles, bringing an existing material into the language of his painting.

For me, this is what makes his work so powerful.

#SuXiaobai #ContemporaryIstanbul #ChineseArt #PearlLam #ContemporaryArt

With his instantly recognisable style, evolution is essential. As such, we created an entire room around the work of Mr Doodle. Now, Mr Doodle is increasingly looking at existing paintings and images and reinterpreting them through his own vocabulary.

After all, repeating yourself is ...easy. Finding new things to say with that language is much more interesting.

#MrDoodle #ContemporaryIstanbul #ContemporaryArt #ArtHistory #PearlLam

I want people to encounter Chinese aesthetics on their own terms, which is why Qiu Anxiong has always interested me. He takes the language of traditional Chinese painting and moves it into completely different forms, including animation.

For me, presenting work like this internationally is... important. Cultural dialogue only becomes interesting when different cultures arrive with their own language, rather than trying to become the same.

#QiuAnxiong #ContemporaryIstanbul #ChineseArt #ChineseAesthetics #PearlLam

“Thick paint” is what Zhu Jinshi does best.

In this enormous triptych, his work becomes almost sculptural. A Turkish friend immediately saw the Mediterranean Sea in its colours, which I loved.

But there is another conversation happening in Zhu’s work that is very important ...to me. He understands both the Western idea of covering the entire canvas and the Chinese principle of Liubai leaving areas empty so that paint and space can exist in balance.

That tension between two visual languages is exactly why I wanted this work here in Istanbul.

#ZhuJinshi #ContemporaryIstanbul #ChineseArt #AbstractArt #PearlLam

Working with us straight out of graduation, Arashi knows nothing remains the same.

In using crystals that gradually change colour, and eventually, the appearance of the entire work will change with them, Arashi understands impermanence in a very physical way. We grow, we change, we age, ...and his work does too.

#ArashiTanaka #ContemporaryIstanbul #JapaneseArt #Impermanence #PearlLam

Taking material, knotting and thread, Chisato Matsumoto builds them into an installation that changes completely when you experience it physically. Movement and light become part of the work too.

Craft has always carried knowledge, culture and enormous technical intelligence. Today, I ...think it’s more important than ever, and Chisato is part of a generation showing just how far those traditions can be pushed.

#ChisatoMatsumoto #ContemporaryIstanbul #TextileArt #JapaneseArt #PearlLam

It was such a pleasure to see my good friend Kulapat Yantrasast again at Contemporary Istanbul, this time surrounded by a very different art scene and a very different set of conversations.

We caught up on the rapid growth of cultural institutions around the world. Kulapat’s new private ...museum in Mumbai is part of that story. As India’s economy grows, so does the appetite for new ways to engage with art. Government investment is adding momentum too, with parallels to the expansion of museums in China.

I’m very excited and curious to see how it unfolds over the next few years.

#PearlLam #ContemporaryIstanbul #KulapatYantrasat #IstanbulArt #ContemporaryArt

Cultural influence has never stood still.

On The Pearl Lam Podcast, architect Tosin Oshinowo speaks about a growing confidence among African creatives to define themselves on their own terms, rather than through frameworks inherited from elsewhere.

Architecture, fashion, art and ...design are increasingly being shaped by many different cultural centres at once. For me, that is far more interesting than simply replacing one dominant voice with another.

Watch the full conversation on The Pearl Lam Podcast.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #AfricanDesign #Architecture #Culture

Architecture shapes far more than the way a city looks. It shapes how people understand where they belong.

On The Pearl Lam Podcast, Tosin Oshinowo speaks about the relationship between architecture, identity and the future of African cities.

At a moment when economic pressures ...are pushing many to look elsewhere, she makes the case for staying, building and taking part in shaping what comes next.

A city’s future is not only decided by policy or investment. It is also decided by the people who choose to remain and create within it.
The full episode is out now on YouTube & Spotify.

#PearlLamPodcast #TosinOshinowo #Architecture #UrbanIdentity #AfricanCities