The Cultural Economy of Lagos as an African Art Capital: Networks, Institutions, and Creative Clustering

Lagos has emerged as one of Africa's most significant art cities, hosting a growing concentration of galleries, auction houses, art fairs, artist studios, and creative institutions that constitute a cultural economy with national and continental significance. This study develops an original analysis of Lagos as an African art capital, examining the networks, institutions, and creative clustering dynamics that define its cultural economy. The theoretical contribution is a framework for understanding art capital formation in the Global South that extends and critiques conventional cultural clustering theory developed in European and North American contexts, identifying the specific role of diaspora networks, informal economy dynamics, and the coexistence of traditional and contemporary art markets as distinctive features of the Lagos art world. The empirical component employs a comprehensive mapping of Lagos's art economy through structured surveys of 150 art world participants including artists, gallery operators, collectors, curators, and event organisers, combined with network analysis of professional relationships and geographic information systems mapping of creative clustering patterns across the Lagos metropolitan area. In-depth case studies of five significant art institutions trace their development, business models, and contribution to the wider ecosystem. The theoretical framework draws on creative clustering theory, cultural economy geography, the art world sociology literature, and African urban studies. A specific analytical contribution is the examination of how the concentration of art world resources in Lagos creates systemic disadvantages for artists in other Nigerian zones that constitute a form of structural inequality within the national art system. Findings contribute to cultural economy geography, African urban studies, and creative industries policy. Keywords: cultural economy, Lagos, African art capital, creative clustering, art world networks