Lagos Biennial: Over 70 artists to light up Eko Atlantic City with stunning showcases

By Prisca Sam-Duru 

The much-anticipated Lagos Biennial will return for its fifth edition from November 14 to December 6, 2026 at Eko Atlantic City, Lagos.

Themed “The Museum of Things Unseen”, the international contemporary art exhibition will feature over 70 artists from Nigeria and around the world, alongside special pavilions presented by the European Union, Floating Museum Chicago, and other international cultural organisations.

The Biennial opens with a special preview on  November 13, followed by its public opening on November 14, 2026. The exhibition will run on selected dates until 6 December 2026 at Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos. 

Founded in 2017 by Nigerian artist and curator Folakunle Oshun, the Lagos Biennial has grown into a major platform for contemporary artistic expression and cross-cultural exchange. Previous editions were staged at the Nigerian Railway Corporation compound in Yaba (2017), Independence House (2019), and Tafawa Balewa Square (2024), transforming historically significant sites into spaces for contemporary art. 

This year’s edition is curated by Furen Dai, Chinyere Obieze and Sam Hopkins, under the artistic direction of Folakunle Oshun. “The Museum of Things Unseen” challenges conventional ideas of what a museum should be and whose histories it represents. 

It asks: What lies hidden in the shadows of our museum spaces? Whose stories are silenced, and whose voices are amplified? If we were to build a museum from scratch, unbounded by structural inequities, what form would it take? 

Through installations, sculpture, photography, film and performance, participating artists will explore the politics of visibility, cultural memory and the possibility of imagining new museum institutions. 

To be held at Eko Atlantic City, one of Africa’s most ambitious urban developments, this year’s Biennial also examines the relationship between cultural heritage, collective memory and the transformation of African cities, spotlighting histories, objects and narratives often overlooked or excluded from conventional museums. 

Speaking ahead of the opening, Founder and Artistic Director of the Lagos Biennial, Oshun, stated: “The Museum of Things Unseen invites us to reconsider what museums preserve, what they leave out, and how we might imagine new institutions that respond to our own histories. Bringing this exhibition to Eko Atlantic City also allows us to reflect on the relationship between Lagos’s rapidly changing urban landscape and its cultural memory.”

A major highlight of the exhibition will be the presentation of the Akete Collection, an initiative of the Lagos Biennial aimed at establishing a permanent contemporary art museum in Lagos. The programme will also feature installations, performances, public conversations and the Curatorial Lab Lagos, an international professional development initiative for emerging curators.

The fifth edition reinforces Lagos’ growing position as an international cultural destination, bringing together artists, curators, collectors and visitors while contributing to Nigeria’s expanding creative economy.