Curatorial Conversation – Museum Development in Nigeria: The John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History
This event is organised by the Association for Art History in conjunction with The Warburg Institute, University of London.
Thursday, 18 September 2025, 5:30pm-7:00pm
Online via Zoom
Attendance free with advance booking
Will Rea, Senior Lecturer in African Art History, University of Leeds and Seun Oduwole, Principle at Si.SA Architects (Lagos and London) in conversation with Bill Sherman (Warburg Institute Director) and Gregory Perry (CEO, Association for Art History).
Please join us online for the next instalment of our Curatorial Conversation series, on the creation and development of recent museums in Nigeria, particularly the John Randle Centre, with the curatorial consultant for the museum, Will Rea, and the architect for the Randle Centre, Seun Oduwole.
The opening of the John Randle Centre in Lagos, Nigeria marked a pivotal moment for museum development in Africa. Blending cutting-edge curatorial and design practice with local cultural priorities and practices, the Centre exemplifies a broader shift across the continent—where museums are reimagined not as static repositories, but as dynamic spaces that give agency to objects and challenge Western curatorial norms.
The Randle Centre stands as an example of new developments in curatorial practice in Africa, but it is not alone. Across the continent museums are reshaping ideas of heritage. Once sidelined by colonial narratives and modernization, heritage is being reclaimed by a new generation as a vital part of identity. From calls for repatriation to questions about where this revalued concept stands in a world of neo-liberal transaction, Africa’s evolving museum landscape is sparking urgent conversations about the future of curation, and the role Europe may or may not have within it.
Curatorial Conversations, in collaboration with the Association for Art History, invites museum directors and curators of recent exhibitions and installations at world-leading museums and galleries to discuss their work. The conversations, led by Bill Sherman and Gregory Perry, discuss the issues of setting the directorial or curatorial agenda and staging meaningful encounters with objects. The series is designed to draw out discussion of the discoveries made, challenges tackled, and the lessons learned in heading a collection, presenting important permanent collections and putting together internationally renowned exhibitions.