“I work in the in-between spaces”: Art world superstar Silvana Lagos dances to her own tune all across the globe

One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone buzzed with a text from Silvana Lagos: “Babe, are you around?” Lagos has a way of making the mundane feel electric. The last time we spoke she was in New York co-hosting a party at the Boom Boom Room during Frieze, where she had programmed a set of artist talks with renowned American artists Sanford Biggers and Tschabalala Self. Thrilled, I invited her for a catch-up at my Lower East Side apartment.

Lagos's work as a consultant on large-scale projects and with blue-chip artists has found her based in London, Ghana, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) – places where she’s cultivated a career entirely on her own terms. Her work thrives in the “in-between spaces”, bridging culture, creativity, and community in ways that feel both visionary and essential. I could not wait to hear what she’s been exploring lately and, of course, to get an update on her endlessly chic rescue dog, Delfina Donatella Miuccia Dolly.

“We have this misconception that there is only one epicenter and that the world only looks at one system within one framework. I work in the in-between spaces, trying to understand how folds happen,” Lagos says as I pour her a glass of red wine. She arrived stylishly dressed in all black, with a long flowing skirt. “Folds,” as Lagos describes, are where creativity flourishes, transcending time and place.

The two hubs where Lagos has recently concentrated her efforts embody this concept beautifully. “Ghana and KSA have similarities in how they look at their identity and cultural traditions,” she says. “Both create a certain loop or rather a circularity, so to say, with time. Ghana has a school of thought of time as circular, and not linear, and in KSA, the Islamic calendar is used, which is very much guided by the moon, and something that feels much bigger than oneself.” Lagos has worked in KSA since 2019 with the city-wide art and light festival Noor Riyadh, among other projects, and in Ghana since 2023. Speaking of the major artistic moments in Ghana as of late, she notes that Ekow Eshun’s group show at Gallery 1957 in Ghana’s capital Accra, which focuses on the Ewe concept of Sankofa “to retrieve” or “to go back and get”, serves as an illustrative conception of the local understanding of time.

Currently, she is building El Anatsui’s Meridian Creative Center, an initiative to preserve and promote art and culture in the artist’s home country Ghana. “An artist estates and legacy symposium by Gagosian in 2016 formulated how I think about the work that I do today,” Lagos explained. The project serves to extend the 80-something-year-old artist’s legacy beyond his works on the market. “Legacy is always at the core of how I look at and work with artists. I translate between an artistic vision and the practical implementation of that dream while ensuring that the core of it looks at the bigger picture and legacy,” she says. She worked with the British artist Frank Bowling, who turned 90 this year, and his studio on similar questions in London.

Lagos is in the United States to attend a new commission by Anatsui at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. During our conversation, she reflects on the artists reshaping Ghana’s art world: Amoako Boafo’s sanctuary Ogbojo, designed by Glenn DeRoché and Juergen Strohmayer (who are “light years” ahead in their sustainable building practices). Lagos conducted part of her Vogue Scandinavia shoot there, captivated by its ethos of sustainability, restitute, and connectivity. “Ogbojo takes time back. It allows you to listen, reflect, and move forward,” she says. Like Anatsui’s center, Boafo’s will serve the Ghanaian art community. Bafic, who shot this story, captures this calmness and generosity that is built into the space.

For the shoot, they also traveled to Ghana’s Volta region where they stayed at Royal Senshi. “I was completely blown away by the natural surroundings. Walking amongst the giant trees put life into perspective, reminding me of boat rides I took in the Peruvian Amazon some years back,” Lagos, who is half-Peruvian, continues: “What inspires me most is how this vision goes beyond the individual. It’s integrated into Ghana’s cultural ecosystem, creating space and time for younger generations.”

We know each other from the Stockholm art world where she worked as Gagosian represented artist Carsten Höller’s studio director. Now she spends part of her time in London (“‘Have you been to Rita’s Dining, if you know, you know”) but used to live in Stockholm (“I miss Midsummer. You need that darkness to be able to appreciate the light.”)

Like @bertiebertthepom, The Hole’s director Kathy Grayson’s pomeranian, may he RIP, Lagos's white fluffy dog Delfina Donatella Miuccia Dolly (named after her female icons), also has her own Instagram account. Delfina has lived in Stockholm and London, but not KSA or Ghana. “I miss her when I’m away,” Lagos admits. Segueing, she points at my Suffolk Pointe shoes on the windowsill: “Can I try your ballet shoes?” Our conversation pauses as we have a dance party at my ballet bar and arched mirror. She plays Tyson’s new album. “I love how she releases music under her terms, with her narrative, and own creative direction,” she says, calling the musician’s Ladies Music Pub, a community of support for women in music, revolutionary. “Give me swan arms,” I command as I toss her layered skirt (“It’s Margiela!” she says excitedly) into the air for a photo. Dance is in the air in New York, we have both recently seen Edges of Ailey, marking the first dance company to be highlighted in a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum. Lagos liked the show so much, she saw it twice.

We plop back down on the sofa, laughing. “Scarcity as a concept so outdated,” she exclaims (I interpret that we must incorporate fun in our work). “There is enough time, resources, and space. It's time we started getting over this,” she says steering our conversation back on track.

Circling back to non-places, those which she has inhabited over the past few years, she says, “I hope that by breaking away from the hyperbole, new systems and ‘truths’ can be aligned.” For Lagos, Ghana is a place where creatives make their own rules. For fashion, she loves Ajabeng for their modern simply cut unisex two-pieces and dedication to working with traditional fabric weaves. She was enthralled by Elolo Bosoka's recent show at the National Science Museum which investigated the ready-made, Dziefo Amagatsey painting practice, which recently finished a residency at Dot.Ateliers, and ADA Gallery’s female led rooster.

I notice that Lagos's time in Ghana has pushed her to sharpen her ideas around creativity and collaboration – skills that attract her clients in the upper echelons of the art world. Poetically, she compares her curation, project management, and artistic direction to music. “Music works only when it is in collaboration, musicians have to listen to each other and work together for it to make sense.” Whether navigating the folds of time or creating legacies that outlive the present, Lagos is a force to be reckoned with – a woman who doesn’t just inhabit the in-between but redefines it.