MORGANABLE LIFE & CULTURE / EXHIBITION
Lagos will host the fifth edition of the Lagos Biennial from November 14 to December 6, 2026, bringing more than 70 artists from Nigeria and other countries to Eko Atlantic City.
Akure —
Lagos will host the fifth edition of the Lagos Biennial from November 14 to December 6, 2026, bringing more than 70 artists from Nigeria and other countries to Eko Atlantic City.
The contemporary art exhibition, titled The Museum of Things Unseen, will explore hidden histories, cultural memory and stories that traditional museum spaces often leave out.
The event will feature installations, sculpture, photography, film and live performances. Organisers say the programme will encourage visitors to question how museums collect, preserve and present art. It will also ask whose experiences receive public attention and whose stories remain overlooked.
The biennial will open with a special preview on November 13 for invited guests and art professionals. The public programme begins the following day and will continue on selected dates until December 6. The venue is in Eko Atlantic City, on Lagos’s Victoria Island.
The move to Eko Atlantic gives the exhibition a setting unlike those of earlier editions. Previous biennials took place at the Nigerian Railway Corporation compound in Yaba, Independence House and Tafawa Balewa Square.
By using sites with distinct histories and public meanings, the organisers have linked contemporary art to questions about the city and its past.
This year’s theme, The Museum of Things Unseen, focuses on works and histories that have received limited attention.
The curatorial concept considers why some artworks remain absent from major collections. Factors may include unequal power, money, politics, curatorial choices and the practical challenges of conserving art.
Through the exhibition, artists will have room to revisit those gaps and offer new ways to understand them.
Their work will examine visibility, identity, heritage and the systems that shape how art travels between communities and institutions.
In turn, visitors will be encouraged to think about how museums might better reflect the societies around them.
The 2026 edition will be curated by Furen Dai, Chinyere Obieze and Sam Hopkins, under the artistic direction of Lagos Biennial founder Folakunle Oshun.
The curators bring different practices and research interests to the project, including questions about language, knowledge, representation and cultural institutions.
Oshun said the exhibition would invite audiences to reconsider what museums preserve, what they exclude and how new institutions could respond to local histories.
He also noted that presenting the biennial in Eko Atlantic creates an opportunity to consider the relationship between Lagos’s fast-changing urban landscape and its cultural memory.
That relationship is central to the exhibition’s setting. Eko Atlantic is an urban development on land reclaimed along the Atlantic coast.
Its modern skyline and expanding infrastructure offer a contrast with the histories and memories that artists will explore.
The venue therefore provides a context for discussions about development, belonging and the stories cities choose to tell.
A major feature will be the first public presentation of the Àkéte Collection
The Lagos Biennial developed the collection as part of a wider plan to establish a lasting contemporary art institution in Lagos.
It brings together works connected to earlier editions, alongside pieces received through donations, loans and new acquisitions.
The organisers see the collection as a way to preserve artistic work beyond the duration of a single exhibition.
It could also help researchers, students and the public engage with contemporary art over time.
By making works accessible in Lagos, the initiative aims to strengthen local cultural infrastructure and create opportunities for new conversations about art history.
The collection draws on the biennial’s earlier editions, which have brought together more than 200 artists from around the world.
Those exhibitions also turned landmark buildings and public sites into spaces for artistic production and debate.
The new collection builds on that experience while looking towards a more permanent home for the work.
The programme will extend beyond the main exhibition. Visitors can expect public conversations and performances, while Curatorial Lab Lagos will offer professional development for emerging curators.
The biennial’s official parallel programme, known as OFFish, will also bring other projects and institutions into the wider event.
International participation is another part of the programme. Special pavilions are planned with the European Union, Floating Museum Chicago and other cultural organisations.
These partnerships are expected to bring different perspectives into the exhibition and support exchanges among artists, curators, institutions and audiences.
The event arrives as Lagos continues to build its profile as a centre for contemporary art.
Biennials can connect local artists with international networks, create space for debate and draw attention to work that may not appear in commercial galleries.
They can also support the creative economy by bringing activity to artists, producers, technicians, educators and other cultural workers.
However, the lasting value of the exhibition will depend on more than visitor numbers or international attention.
Access, documentation and continued support for artists and institutions will matter after the closing date.
The Àkéte Collection may help provide continuity, while the public programme can encourage people to engage with art beyond the exhibition halls.
For visitors, the theme offers a clear starting point: look closely at what is shown, but also consider what is missing
. The artworks may raise questions about whose memories are recorded, how cultural objects gain value and how institutions can challenge inherited assumptions.
Rather than presenting a single account of history, the biennial aims to open space for different experiences and interpretations.
The Lagos Biennial will hold its preview on November 13 before opening to the public on November 14. It will run on selected dates through December 6 at Eko Atlantic City.
With more than 70 participating artists, a new collection presentation and a programme of talks and performances, the fifth edition will place contemporary art at the centre of a conversation about memory, museums and the changing city.
