Who we are
Revolving Art Incubator (RAI), established in 2016, is the first art incubator in Africa. Through our experimental project space (the Incubator), as well as through artistic, spatial, and social interventions, we support creatives across diverse art forms including visual and performance art, time-based media, writing, and technology-driven practices. RAI provides resources, guidance, and collaborative environments to foster professional development and sustainable artistic growth.
Over the last ten years, RAI has empowered and developed creative talent in Nigeria, enabling artists to thrive in both traditional and experimental practices while fostering sustainable cultural and social impact. We have led critical conversations about envisioning a modern future inspired by archives, indigenous knowledge systems, and contemporary technologies, while creating conditions, physical, social, and cultural, that allow creatives to gather, interact, imagine, and produce cultural assets.
We have showcased hundreds of artists and impacted thousands of creatives through exhibitions, talks, seminars, workshops, and projects. Our practice-led, citywide research project Extroversion (2018–2019) explored the informal dynamics within Lagos, adopting the city’s underbelly as a model for creative and socio-economic development. The outcomes were presented in the exhibition Extroversion – Na Condition is Permanent (2019–2020), featuring a group of contributors including architects, artists, poets, lawyers, economists, and researchers who participated in the project.
Exhibitions and Artists :
RAI’s artist roster includes David Akinola, Chima Enwezor, Blessing Ibie, Matiu Idang, Bernard Kalu, Aderemi Adegbite, Damola Adebowale, May Okafor, Sadiq Williams, Babatunde Ogunlade, William Moore, Akasonloye Moore, Abdulrazaq Ahmed, Ankeli Christopher, Adejoke Tugbiyele, Olubunmi Oyesanya Ayaoge, Stacey Ravvero, Kehinde Awofeso, Ayo Akinwande, Israel Ophori, Yakubu Paul, Pietrina Aturu, Mfonobong Mkpang, Chidinma Nene, Ifeoluwa Osubkoya, Elizabeth Okafor, Egba Daniel, Byenyan Bitrus, Ekeomah Atuonwu, Moyin Adelaja, Ogochukwu Ejiofor, Ayotola Daini, Ana Hupe, among others.
Spatial Memory, Technology, and the Digital Future
RAI champions storytelling at the intersection of art, culture, and technology. By introducing Lagos-based creatives to immersive tools and documentary filmmaking, we expand the ways stories are told, bridging traditional and digital practices while preserving cultural memory and onboarding creatives into the digital future.
In 2017, we organized the pioneering workshop ART + VR in collaboration with imisi3D and Samsung, introducing creatives to immersive technology and narrative design. As part of AfricaNXT, we led sessions on payment settlements for creative collaborations, exploring cryptocurrency and NFTs-as well as discussions on the role of African creators in the emerging digital landscape.
In 2019, we partnered with Massachusetts Institute of Technology- MIT’s Aga Khan Documentation Centre for Archiving Apprenticeship – Archiving Standards and Structures, equipping creatives to preserve heritage through documentation, and dissemination of cultural knowledge.
In 2020, we began producing our signature documentary work, Formation, under RAI’s Archiving Initiative. The series traces Nigeria’s national history through the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the country’s oldest institution.
The docuseries screened in November 2025 at the Lagos International Trade Fair and premiered at the 2026 iREP International Documentary Film Festival.
Produced in collaboration with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Sterling Bank, Formation demonstrates how RAI integrates story-driven, cinematic documentary filmmaking into artistic research and cultural engagement.
Recognition
RAI’s innovative approach has been recognized internationally. The New York Times named RAI one of Lagos’s sharpest artist-led spaces (2019).
Creative Director Jumoke Sanwo was featured in IAM – Intense Art Magazine (2017) as one of the New Art Scene Architects in Lagos, and has been highlighted on CNN’s Next Generation Cities and Deutsche Welle’s Lagos – West Africa’s Creative Powerhouse | Art.See.Africa (2024).
In 2025, Africans Column recognized our creative director as the leading curator of extended reality (XR) and Spatial memory and one of 50 Influential African curators out of Africa in 2025.
