(Un)Known Lives of Objects features a selection of objects from the Tang Collection that were originally created in the territory of Nigeria. Displaying these objects for the first time, the exhibition explores their complex journeys from West Africa to Saratoga Springs.
This exhibition looks closely at the possible lives of these objects in North America and Europe. While it would be impossible to verify complete trajectories for each object, more general histories can be traced by exploring the shared fate of many objects from Africa. To illustrate different moments in these object’s lives, the exhibition displays them in four distinct settings: a home, a retail store, an art museum and an anthropology and ethnography museum.