Nigeria’s Museum of West African Art Announces Public Opening Date

The Museum of West African Artwork, primarily based in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria, introduced Thursday that it’ll formally open its campus to the general public on Nov. 11.

First announced in 2020, the MOWAA campus is deliberate as a 15-acre advanced housing a analysis and schooling institute (the MOWAA Institute), a up to date artwork exhibition area (the Rainforest Gallery), a boutique resort (the Artwork Guesthouse), and a efficiency area (the Artisans’ Corridor), amongst different amenities. The complete campus is projected to be accomplished by 2028, however this fall, guests will get their first take a look at MOWAA.

In November, the Institute will open to the general public alongside its inaugural exhibition, “Nigeria Imaginary Homecoming,” which will probably be unfold throughout a number of buildings on the campus. Curated by Aindrea Emelife, an artwork historian and curator of recent and up to date artwork at MOWAA, the present is one thing of a redux of Nigeria’s well-recieved pavilion on the 2024 Venice Biennale, which Emelife additionally curated. 4 new artists—Kelani Abass, Modupeola Fadugba, Ngozi-Omeje Ezema, and Isaac Emokpae—will be part of the unique lineup. The exhibition will run via Apr. 26, 2026.

The Institute options 48,000 sq. ft of amenities for archaeological analysis, conservation, artwork storage, and public packages. MOWAA is planning a sequence of exhibition excursions, talks, workshops, and neighborhood activations to rejoice the opening.

The launch will probably be preceded by a two-day slate of preview occasions—together with a colloquium exploring “cultural, political, and inventive imaginaries throughout Nigeria, Africa, and its international diaspora,” guided exhibition excursions, and a city-wide program of talks and workshops. Ongoing public programming, from movie screenings to workshops and gallery excursions, is scheduled via February 2026.

In a press release, Institute director Ore Disu known as MOWAA “not only a museum” however an establishment centered on transformation.”

“Globally, museums are more and more being requested to justify their existence, whether or not it’s by the use of funding cuts, restitution or falling customer numbers,” Disu mentioned. “What’s essential for us at MOWAA is to be really embedded in constructing contextually related practices, regenerating African cites and scholarship, and utilizing artwork as a catalyst for actual influence … We began this work 5 years in the past at our inception, and we’re proud to proceed to point out that Africa can present new methods of considering and doing as we open our doorways this November.”

The grand opening comes one year after the establishment held “Museum within the Making,” a two-day “hard-hat opening” for media and 250 invited visitors accompanied by a slate of workshops and a tour via archaeological excavations on-site. (The campus is situated atop the ruins of historical Benin Metropolis, whose surviving partitions, moats, and gates were excavated and incorporated into the brand new buildings.)

Final 12 months, Emelife instructed ARTnews in a function on MOWAA that the workforce views the establishment “as a blueprint, a convening level, and the middle of outreach that helps develop and maintain museum infrastructure all through West Africa, working with the dwelling tradition of Nigeria—our artisans, our native regional museums—and forging significant relationships and partnerships with museums within the West and globally.”

As a part of the opening, MOWAA additionally introduced the institution of an Artist Council to make sure that the museum’s programming “stays artist led,” in line with a press launch. Among the many main names on the council are Yinka Shonibare, Michael Armitage, Victor Ehikhamenor, Nengi Omuku, Odun Orimolade, and Kaloki Nyamai. Members will serve two-year phrases, providing mentorship in schooling and residency packages and advising on exhibitions and analysis initiatives. Every was chosen, the establishment mentioned, with an eye fixed towards their connections with different arts organizations throughout the continent.

“The influence of artwork establishments in Africa will rely on our capacity to work with different organizations throughout the continent. With this in thoughts, I look ahead to creating the connection between [Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute] and MOWAA as we develop our neighborhood between Kenya and Nigeria and broaden the attain of artwork on the continent,” Armitage mentioned in a press release.