John Akomfrah: Listening All Night To The Rain

Exhibition at Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

November 4, 2025 – February 8, 2026

John Akomfrah, Canto VII, Listening All Night To The Rain, British Pavilion 2024. Image by Jack Hems.

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The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the TBA21Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary presents Listening All Night To The Rain, a new exhibition by John Akomfrah, specially conceived for the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. The British artist of Ghanaian origin reimagines his most ambitious and experimental work to date, originally commissioned for the British Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale.

The exhibition takes its title from an 11th-century poem by Chinese writer Su Dongpo, written during his political exile, in which the author reflects on the transitory nature of life. Through a series of immersive, multi-channel film and sound installations, Akomfrah continues his exploration of postcolonialism, ecology, and aesthetics, with a particular focus on the sonic.

In these installations, bodies of water serve as connective tissue between the broad and complex geopolitical narratives he presents. Akomfrah reflects on memory and monumentality by layering archival material. Through theatrical stagings, the artwork becomes a kind of manifesto, inviting listening as a form of activism.

Jonh Akomfrah is known for his art films and multi-screen video installations that address fundamental issues such as racial injustice, colonial legacies, diasporic identities, migration, and climate change. His practice began in the early 1980s as a founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective (BAFC), a group of seven artists established in 1982. The BAFC’s first film, Handsworth Songs (1986), examined the 1985 uprisings in Birmingham and London. In recent years, his video work has evolved into ambitious multi-screen installations shown in museums and galleries around the world. In 2017, he was awarded the Artes Mundi Prize, the UK’s most prestigious award for international contemporary art. His previous participation in the Venice Biennale was with Four Nocturnes, commissioned for Ghana’s first national pavilion in 2019.

‘John Akomfrah: Listening All Night to the Rain’ was commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024. Co-commissioner: Lisson Gallery, TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Smoking Dogs Films. An exhibition co-produced in Madrid by TBA21 and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.

CURATOR

Tarini Malik

LOCATION

Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum
P.º del Prado, 8. 28014 Madrid

OPEN CALL

Learn about the related open call HERE.