57. In The Black Fantastic with Ekow Eshun

This week WGSN Business Development Manager Sam Boakye and Insight Strategist Mel Larsen talk to British writer, curator and broadcaster Ekow Eshun about his new exhibition "In The Black Fantastic" now showing at London’s Hayward Gallery.

Ekow has been described as a ‘cultural polymath’ by The Guardian, he is chairman of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, overseeing the most prestigious public art programme in the UK, and the former Director of the ICA, London. He is the author of critically lauded books Black Gold of the Sun, Africa State of Mind, and, most recently In the Black Fantastic. 

At WGSN part of our STEPIC methodology that we use in our trend forecasting includes looking at culture and creativity, and so in that vein we invited Ekow on the show to talk about the exhibition and accompanying book. We spoke more widely about themes of The Black Fantastic vs Afrofuturism, the power of speculative film and fiction, the relevance of artists from Chris Ofili to Beyonce in expressing the Black experience and the concept of double consciousness.