Open Studio
Via Brignone 18, Spoleto
July 11, 2026, 11:00 AM–2:00 PM

Roll Call: Spoleto (performance)
Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto
July 12, 2026, 11:00–11:45 AM

We are pleased to announce that the inaugural Creative Capital x Mahler & LeWitt Studios International Residency Incubator opportunity has been awarded to Ekene Ijeoma (2019 Creative Capital Awardee). In partnership with the Musei Civici di Spoleto, the residency offers a Creative Capital Awardee the opportunity to develop their practice and incubate new work in Italy during the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi 2026.

Ekene Ijeoma is a Nigerian-American conceptual artist who researches social, political, and environmental systems to poetically expose inequities and mutually empower communities. His multidisciplinary practice spans participatory land-works, interactive light installations, and data-driven performances. They draw on Black American and African experiences, traditions, and symbols through design and technology.

As part of his residency, Ijeoma will present a site-specific iteration of his project Roll Call at Palazzo Collicola, Musei Civici di Spoleto. Drawing on the Nigerian tradition of naming people after virtues, the work uses custom text bots to transform bureaucratic phonetic spelling systems into virtue-signalling acrostic poems connected to Umbrian dialects and idioms. Guests are invited to submit their names to the attendance list and in the performance Ijeoma will generate and recite a unique acrostic poem for each participant. Roll Call: Spoleto reimagines a traditional system of communication as an act of collective empowerment cutting across cultural boundaries. Ijeoma comments: “On this Sunday, I will turn spelling into a blessing, gifting the community with an uplifting way of relating to their names and identities.”