MORE NEWS UPDATES…
The next Illicit Gin Institute Assembly will take place on Tuesday 11th October 2022 at Tramp Private Member’s Club in Central London. Please contact us to find out more details about this very special event…
NFT Bottle auction on Opensea with Montague Contemporary.
As part of a new exhibition of works by Zina Saro-Wiwa at Montague Contemporary in New York, we are delighted to showcase four incredibly unique and rare Sarogua spirits, hand signed and numbered in limited edition bottles with custom labels featuring the artist’s artwork. As an homage to the historical use of gin in West Africa as a form of currency in an otherwise decentralized market, and the potent use of cryptocurrency across Nigeria as a mechanism for economic empowerment, we will be issuing each bottle of Sarogua Spirit with a corresponding NFT. Unlike a purely digital work of art, each NFT is linked to one of the limited edition bottles of Sarogua Spirit, offering collectors the chance to acquire both a digital and physical artwork.
Illicit Gin Institute exhibition at Montague Contemporary, NYC
Our new exhibition “Illicit Gin Institute” will open at Montague Contemporary on Thursday, February 3 and remain on view through Saturday, March 3. This is Zina Saro-Wiwa’s first solo exhibition at the gallery and the show features new limited edition artworks created as part of Saro-Wiwa’s "Illicit Gin Institute", a radical think tank-cum-art project founded by the artist dedicated to the exploration of a Nigerian spirit historically known as "illicit gin”. Alongside some very special illicit gin art bottles from the artist’s experimental distillery, we will be showing prints from her widely acclaimed Table Manners series.
First ever IGI Assemblies take place in LA with Active Cultures
In September, October and November 2021, three very special inaugural Illicit Gin Institute Assemblies took place in the magical gardens of Schindler House in Los Angeles. Tickets sold out within 24 hours on each occasion and each event was more popular than the last. Active Cultures along with the MAK Center for Art & Architecture brought the vision of the Illicit Gin Institute to life in these very special events that were described as some of the most unique and profoundly affecting art events that had been experienced by many attendees.
Illicit Institute at Aspen Museum for ArtCrush 2021
The Illicit Gin Institute’s first ever official public programme took place at Aspen Art Museum for their Art Crush week in August 2021. Three events took place on the rooftop of the museum introducing the art community of Aspen to the wonders of botanical palm wine “illicit gin’.