Three days. One year. A living expression of community.
A year after launching the residency, Dot Ateliers had an opportunity to do more than celebrate an anniversary.The three-day programme became a chance to make the philosophy of the residency visible – its commitment to artists, creative exchange, community and the South Labadi neighbourhood.
For ALOD, this meant translating those values into three distinct physical and social experiences. Each day had its own character, but together they formed a larger expression of what Dot Ateliers had spent its first year building.
Intimacy, reflection and connection.
The first evening brought the anniversary into a more intimate setting.
Guests began with a private preview of Let’s Peel It Back, the anniversary exhibition, before moving from the architectural world of Dot Ateliers into the more residential setting of the Ogbojo residency for dinner.
A pre-dinner cocktail created space to continue conversations from the exhibition before guests were seated. The dinner itself was designed around community and connection, with an S-shaped floor plan that allowed guests to engage naturally across the table while keeping the movement of service unobstructed.
The neutral tones of the residence were complemented by warm lighting and understated details, allowing the setting to feel rooted, relaxed and considered rather than overly decorated.
With music by Tommy Wà and a menu by Kozo, the evening became a fitting opening to the anniversary programme — intimate, reflective and centred on the simple act of bringing people together.
The second day opened the anniversary outward.
Where the first evening created space for intimacy and reflection, the public exhibition invited a wider creative community to look back at Dot Ateliers’ first year — the artists, ideas, collaborations and experiences that had begun to shape its story.
Let’s Peel It Back became more than an exhibition. The story of the year was presented through the space, while a roaming interpretive artist offered another depth to the exhibition in real time, bringing the idea of peeling back to life through movement and interaction.
Once the exhibition had been explored, the evening shifted naturally into cocktails and conversation in the backyard of the South Labadi property. Guests gathered around the branded barrels over cocktails and light bites, with local melodies from the DJ setting the pace as citronella burned gently through the evening air. The atmosphere was deliberately easy — a place to linger, reconnect and continue conversations sparked by the exhibition.
If Day I was about coming together around a table, Day II was about opening that table to the wider creative community.
Look back → share the story → bring the community together → continue the conversation.
Belong