"Dancer, Still Moving"

In the fall of 2025, Nigerian-American artist Victor Ekpuk installed  Dancer  at the corner of 14th and R Street NW, a 10-foot, bright red steel figure inspired by the human form in motion.  Dancercelebrates the universal language of dance as a metaphor for freedom, resilience, and joy. Commissioned by the Logan Circle Community Association, the sculpture quickly became a new landmark in the neighborhood’s streetscape, resonating with the area’s history as one of the city's most culturally diverse and creative corners of Washington, DC.

In the Dancer, Still Moving exhibition, Ekpuk returns to the figure that has watched over the corner of 14th and R Street, translating its bold silhouette into a serigraph print, alongside a series of smaller sculptures and works on paper that introduce audiences to the artist’s oeuvre. These pieces invite viewers into the lines, rhythms, and symbols that define Ekpuk’s practice, one rooted in the ancient Nigerian script Nsibidi and his decades-long exploration of reducing form into graphic, symbolic abstraction.

Ultimately, Dancer, Still Moving asks what happens when a public icon enters an intimate gallery space: still recognizable, still in motion, and still speaking.

The Goethe-Institut Washington is proud to host this exhibition to explore the cultural resonance and artistic process behind Victor Ekpuk’s Dancer, offering visitors a deeper narrative connection to the vibrant public sculpture that greets them just outside our doors. 

August 26 – October 1, from 10am until 5pm, Mondays through Thursdays, or by appointment. 

About Victor Ekpuk

Victor Ekpuk is a Smithsonian Fellow and an internationally renowned artist based in Washington, D.C. He is celebrated for a diverse portfolio spanning paintings, drawings, sculptures, and monumental public art. Drawing inspiration from Nsibidi, an indigenous ideographic script of southeastern Nigeria, his art functions as a visual language that bridges historical tradition and modern abstraction, inviting viewers to engage in a silent dialogue with the forms and symbols he creates.

His work explores the human condition, touching on themes of cultural memory, identity, and the shared human experience. Over a career spanning more than three decades, his work has evolved from the canvas to immersive public installations, including monumental sculpture Dancer in Washington, D.C., and The Face in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Passage to Promise, Al Safa Library of Art and Design, Dubai, UAE, as well as Conversation, a tile mosaic mural at Bowie State University in Maryland, US.

Ekpuk is a recipient of the 2025 Margaret Herz Demant African Art Award from the Detroit Institute of Art for his contribution to contemporary African art. His artworks are held in prominent public and private collections worldwide, including The Phillips Collection, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Newark Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), The World Bank (Washington, D.C.), Hood Museum of Art, Krannert Art Museum, United States Embassy (Art in Embassies Program), Bank ABC (The Kingdom of Bahrain), Kiran Nader Museum (New Delhi), and Soho House art collection.

His work has been featured in international exhibitions such as the Dak’Art Biennale in Senegal, the Havana Biennial, the Johannesburg Biennial, and the Guangzhou Triennial, as well as at institutions including the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), the Fowler Museum (Los Angeles), New Museum (New York), and the Museum of Arts and Design (New York).