Adrian Holt

11/7/19
Museum Artwork

In the Cleveland Museum of Art, as you enter through the glass doors, the corridor will

assist the exiting of the entrance stage and expose the people to the open space where the first

installation will be met. The official name is known as the Ama: The Gathering Place. The artist

who is responsible is Emeka Ogboh. The artist had his childhood in mind the whole time

creating this installations. The Ama will only exist within the referred space between August 2

until December 1. At first glance, your eyes will discover in the middle of the open space will be

a man made circle using around six black speakers that stand around 5 feet tall. The speakers

face inward allowing full surround sound immersion. The playlist of music constantly heard from

these speakers are recordings of the sounds from ceremonies and events that he listened to as

a child in his village in Nigeria. In the middle of the circle, bean bags are found scattered across

the concrete floor in no pattern. The patterns and art on the fabric of the beanbags derives from

his nigearian heritage and the giant stitched together tree off to the east may seem separate

from the installation yet it is not. Between those time intervals previously mentioned before,

each part comes together to invoke a universal immersion. Its meant to pull people into the

circle of native african sounds and let them lay their bodies on the beanbag chairs to transition

into comfort. It is from there with the symbolic village tree in the distance to help them transport

themselves to the artist’s childhood and truly visit a life not of their own. Knowing this and

experiencing this makes it clear that being installed in a public space was a necessity and not

an option.