21 JUN, 4 PM: Yussef Agbo-Ola: BÍBÍ: 3 Seed Altar – Inauguration as part of the Fête de la musique

On 21 June, artist Yussef Agbo-Ola will inaugurate his installation BÍBÍ: 3 Seed Altar with a musical performance. He created this installation specifically for a courtyard at the Museum Folkwang. More precisely, this will be a sonic activation of the work, which has been part of the museum’s collection since fall 2025 and into which various plants were planted that fall. The sound poem 9 Orchids Bleeding Rain is intended to simulate plant growth and pay tribute to the constant transformations of nature. The sound piece is a composition of sounds from Nigerian shrines and Yoruba instruments, which are used to communicate with trees and to pray for favorable weather conditions for agriculture and the harvest.

BÍBÍ: 3 SEED ALTAR (2025)
BÍBÍ is an internal contemplation space that reflects on the unseen exchanges of nutrients between seed and soil. Drawing from the internal forms of medicinal seeds found in the Òmò Forest of Nigeria, the altar symbolically embodies the underground processes of fertilization and transformation. The geometry of its knitted tensile skins is inspired by microscopic research into the cellular architectures of seeds observed under the electron microscope—translating the hidden patterns in nature into tactile form. The front of the altar features a porous opening, from which knitted fabrics extend in multiple directions, forming a cellular-like web that echoes the living root fibres beneath the forest floor. From the side, the structure reveals three strata of earth forming a womb: the sacred chamber where the seed undergoes its metamorphosis before emerging into light. Within the structure, two central rings cradle living soil and host climbing plants that grow, decay, and renew through their own rhythms. Collaborating with natural energy systems—sun, rain, insects, and wind—BÍBÍ becomes a living organism shaped by its environment.

The programme for the Fête de la musique at the Museum Folkwang