We gathered at the National Museum Lagos for TALE of the Old Secretariat: Unveiling the Past, Envisioning the Future — our first public exhibition and a landmark moment in sharing the story of one of Lagos’ most iconic buildings. The exhibition unfolded as an immersive journey, inviting audiences to step into the layered histories of the Old Secretariat while imagining its possibilities for the future.
Through a thoughtful blend of photography, film, sound, and a virtual reality prototype, visitors experienced the Secretariat not just as an architectural relic, but as a living archive of memory, heritage, and civic identity. Each medium revealed new ways of seeing and feeling the building: its role in Nigeria’s past, its presence in our collective consciousness, and its potential to inspire future visions of public space.
Adding further depth to the exhibition, daily fireside chats created space for dialogue and reflection. Leading voices in architecture, history, and technology came together with the public to discuss how we remember, preserve, and reimagine the spaces that shape our communities. These conversations transformed the exhibition into more than a showcase — it became a forum for shared learning, collective memory, and visionary thinking about the city we inhabit.
TALE of the Old Secretariat was not only a return to the past but also an invitation to look forward: to see public spaces as vessels of history, imagination, and future possibility.
As the first public unveiling of the TALE project, this exhibition invites visitors into the evolving story of the former Secretariat building on Lagos Island. Presented at the National Museum Lagos, the experience blends archival research, spatial exploration, artistic documentation, and sound design to reflect on the layered histories, contested memories, and future possibilities embedded in the site.
Through photographs, video, audio, and interactive storytelling, the exhibition traces our journey from early research and site visits to the development of the pilot festival. Visitors are encouraged to consider the building not just as a historical structure, but as a living archive one that speaks to questions of public space, cultural identity, and collective imagination in Lagos today.
We begin the afternoon with a screening of the short documentary TALE of the Old Secretariat: a film that invites viewers into a multidisciplinary exploration of memory, heritage, and public space. Anchored in the Secretariat building, the documentary features reflections from architects, historians, curators, and members of the Creative Alliance, and asks: How do we honour the past while imagining new uses for forgotten places?
Following the screening, we host a fireside chat titled:
The Architecture of Memory: When Buildings Speak
This conversation brings together practitioners across architecture, photography, history, heritage management, and cultural practice to explore how buildings serve as vessels of memory. Using the Old Secretariat as a case study, the discussion reflects on how physical spaces hold layered histories, shifting narratives, and community identities.
Speakers:
The day opens with a live walkthrough and presentation of the TALE virtual reality prototype, developed by Lucid Jungles. This immersive experience reimagines the Old Secretariat in digital space, allowing visitors to explore the site through an innovative blend of architectural precision, narrative design, and interactive storytelling. The presentation offers insight into the creative and technical process behind building this prototype and reflects on the potential of technology to reanimate and preserve memory.
Following the demo, we host a fireside chat titled:
Reimagining Heritage: Technology as a Tool for Cultural Memory
This conversation explores how emerging digital technologies, including immersive design, interactive VR, and gamified storytelling, can serve as powerful tools for preserving cultural memory, reimagining historical spaces, and expanding public access to heritage sites like the Old Secretariat.
Speakers: