KJ Abudu is a curator and critic based between New York, London, and Lagos. Informed by anti/post/de-colonial theory, queer theory, African philosophy, and Black radical thought, his writings and exhibitions focus on critical art and intellectual practices from the global South responding to the world-historical conditions produced by colonial capitalist modernity.
Abudu holds an MA in Modern & Contemporary Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University and a BA from Duke University where he studied philosophy and political science. He was also a 2022/23 Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program.
Recent exhibitions include Clocking Out: Time Beyond Management, Artists Space and e-flux Screening Room, New York, 2023; and Living with Ghosts, Pace Gallery, London, 2022, and the Wallach Art Gallery, New York, 2022. Abudu is the editor of Living with Ghosts: A Reader, Pace Publishing, 2022. His writings have appeared in e-flux, Frieze, Mousse, Tate Etc., and numerous other publications and exhibition catalogues.
Abudu is curating Traces of Ecstasy, which will open in February 2024 at the fourth edition of the Lagos Biennial and at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. Abudu is part of the curatorial team at the Swiss Institute (SI), New York, overseeing its public programs and residencies.
Selected Writings & Exhibitions
Curatorial Projects
CURRENTLY: Traces of Ecstasy, Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, February 16 - July 14, 2024
Traces of Ecstasy, Lagos Biennial Fourth Edition, Lagos, February 3-10, 2024
Clocking Out: Time Beyond Management, Artists Space and e-flux Screening Room, New York, May 17-28, 2023
Living with Ghosts, Pace Gallery, London, July 8-August 5, 2022
Living with Ghosts, Wallach Art Gallery, New York, March 26-April 10, 2022
Forgotten Histories: Architecture & Memory in Postcolonial Nigeria, Angels and Muse, Lagos, December 22, 2019
Edited Publications
Living with Ghosts: A Reader, Pace Publishing, 2022 (view introduction here)
Essays, Reviews, & Interviews
“Anarcho-Ecstasy: Options for an Afri-Queer Becoming,” e-flux Journal, October 2023
“A Question of Inheritance: Bouchra Khalili’s Decolonial Spectropoetics,” Bouchra Khalili: Between Circles and Constellations (Exhibition Catalogue), MACBA, September 2023
“Danced Insurgencies: Onyeka Igwe,” Mousse, June 2023
“Eric N. Mack: Notes on Sarong,” Chronorama Redux (Exhibition Catalogue), Palazzo Grassi, June 2023
“Ciné-chronotones: Decolonial Temporal Critique in Contemporary Moving Image Practice,” Clocking Out: Time Beyond Management (Exhibition Catalogue), Whitney Museum of American Art, May 2023
“Photography Report: Imaging Racial Capital,” e-flux Criticism, April 2023
“Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Painterly Matterings of Ordinary Black Life,” Tate Etc., January 2023
“Cinematising the Ghostly Postcolonial Timescape: John Akomfrah & Black Audio Film Collective,” Living with Ghosts: A Reader, 2022
“Bouchra Khalili and KJ Abudu in Conversation,” Living with Ghosts: A Reader, 2022
“Living with Ghosts: Curatorial Essay,” Pace Journal, 2022
“Evan Ifekoya in Conversation with KJ Abudu,” Resonant Frequencies (Exhibition Catalogue), Migros Museum, March 2022
“The Inexpressively Expressive Cinematic Image: Quiet and the Black Interior in A Screaming Man and Bless Their Little Hearts,” Seen Journal, November 2021
“Interview: Artist Ângela Ferreira Examines Modern Architecture and Colonialism,” PIN-UP, August 2021
“KJ Abudu In Conversation With Shola Von Reinhold,” Luncheon Magazine No. 11, June 2021
“We Greet Aṣọ Before We Greet Its Wearer: Five Theses on Lagos Space Programme,” Boy.Brother.Friend, Spring 2021
“Steve McQueen at the Tate Modern: Cinematics of Touch, Flesh, and Embodiment,” Arts.Black, July 6, 2020
“Study #19, Rich and Poor, Jim Goldberg,” The Roberts Institute of Art Study Series, April 30, 2020
“Eric N. Mack: Materialising Aesthetic Ruptures,” Unbound (Exhibition Catalogue), Zuckerman Museum of Art, March 2020
“Building A Future From The Rubble: The Second Lagos Biennial,” Frieze, November 26, 2019
“Artist Maren Hassinger Mourns Our Lost Connection With The Natural World,” Frieze, October 29, 2019
Lectures, Tours & Conversations
“Living with Ghosts & Traces of Ecstasy: Decolonial Spectropoetics in Contemporary Art and Curatorial Practice,” Atmospheres of Alienation, Freie Universität Berlin, November 8, 2023
“Discussion with TJ Demos & KJ Abudu: Ecologies of Collapse, Chronopolitics, and Justice-to-Come,” Woodbine, New York, May 14, 2023
“Discussion with KJ Abudu, Nacira Guénif-Souilamas, and Léopold Lambert,” Petrine, Paris, February 17, 2023
“KJ Abudu on Ibrahim El Salahi: Pain Relief Drawings,” The Drawing Center, New York, January 15, 2023
“Shrine,” Participant Inc., New York, July 19, 2020