Designing for Darkness: The Global Gothic with Dr Edward Akintola Hubbard
We are pleased to invite you to Salon Maxivive Season 2, Session 5, a special evening featuring Dr Edward Akintola Hubbard, an artist, anthropologist, curator, and artistic director of the DARKMATTER Collective. The evening will take place on November 6, 2026, at Atelier Van Lieshout, Keileweg 18, Rotterdam, from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
Salon Maxivive is a reciprocal initiative by Nigerian fashion designer and activist Papa Oyeyemi, founder of Maxivive and member of the DARKMATTER Collective. What began in 2023 as a proposed collaboration has evolved into an ongoing dialogue platform, bringing together artists, thinkers, and communities through intimate salon gatherings.
For our fifth session, we travel to Rotterdam, the city Akin has called home since 2019, where he continues to develop his artistic and research practice.
Under the theme Designing for Darkness: The Global Gothic, we explore the relationship between darkness, cultural identity, folklore, and contemporary artistic expression. Drawing from Akin's work in anthropology, experimental ethnography, and visual culture, the conversation will examine how Gothic aesthetics exist beyond Western traditions, particularly through African folklore, spirituality, and the stories that shape our collective imagination.
The evening will unfold as a dinner interwoven with fashion, art, performance, and conversation. Nigerian jollof rice will be served, bringing together guests from our different networks, including artists, researchers, cultural workers, and members of the wider community.
Together with Akin, we invite you to join an evening that creates space for exchange on art, fashion, anthropology, and the ways personal and societal experiences are represented through culture and the body. We hope this encounter sparks meaningful conversations, new insights, friendships, and future collaborations.
This event is made possible with the support of the Creative Industries Fund NL and is a co-production between Maxivive and the DARKMATTER Collective, with special thanks to Atelier Van Lieshout.
As the organisation of the evening requires careful preparation, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you in good time regarding your attendance.
Event Details
Date: Friday, November 6, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Venue: Atelier Van Lieshout
Address: Keileweg 18, 3029 BS Rotterdam
With thanks and warm regards,
Papa Oyeyemi
Dr Edward Akintola Hubbard