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 introduced in 2020, the MOWAA campus is deliberate as a 15-acre complicated housing a analysis and training institute (the MOWAA Institute), a recent artwork exhibition area (the Rainforest Gallery), a boutique resort (the Artwork Guesthouse), and a efficiency area (the Artisans’ Corridor), amongst different amenities. The total 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 shall be unfold throughout a number of buildings on the campus. Curated by Aindrea Emelife, an artwork historian and curator of recent and modern 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 by means of Apr. 26, 2026.
A view of the doorway of the brand new Museum of West African Artwork in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria.
Picture Tolulope Sanus/Courtesy MOWAA
The Institute options 48,000 sq. toes of amenities for archaeological analysis, conservation, artwork storage, and public applications. MOWAA is planning a sequence of exhibition excursions, talks, workshops, and neighborhood activations to have a good time the opening.
The launch shall 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 world 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 by means of February 2026.
In an announcement, 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 means 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 indicate that Africa can present new methods of considering and doing as we open our doorways this November.”
The grand opening comes one 12 months 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 by means of archaeological excavations on-site. (The campus is situated atop the ruins of historical Benin Metropolis, whose surviving partitions, moats, and gates have been excavated and included into the brand new constructions.)
Final 12 months, Emelife informed ARTnews in a characteristic on MOWAA that the crew 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 keeping 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 training and residency applications and advising on exhibitions and analysis tasks. 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 upon our skill to work with different organizations throughout the continent. With this in thoughts, I stay up for growing the connection between [Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute] and MOWAA as we develop our group between Kenya and Nigeria and broaden the attain of artwork on the continent,” Armitage mentioned in an announcement.
