Sir John Akomfrah Presents ‘Arcadia’ at the Natural History Museum, London

Lisson is pleased to announce that Sir John Akomfrah’s five-channel film installation, Arcadia (2023), will premiere at the Natural History Museum, London, on 5 November 2026.

The film explores the Columbian Exchange and the profound environmental and social transformations that followed the movement of people, plants, animals, commodities, technologies, diseases and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia from the fifteenth century onwards. Across five screens, expansive landscapes are interwoven with archival imagery and scenes of trade and industry, tracing the interconnected histories of migration, colonialism and ecological change.

Accompanied by a soundscape incorporating nature recordings, opera and poetry, Arcadia reflects on the ways in which human histories and changing ecologies have shaped one another. The presentation marks the work’s London debut, following its premiere at Sharjah Biennial 15 and subsequent presentation at The Box, Plymouth, in 2023.

Arcadia will be on view in the Jerwood Gallery at the Natural History Museum from 5 November 2026 until May 2027. The installation is free to visit.

Learn more here.

Shown here: John Akomfrah, The Wounding Light 1, 2023. © The Artist, Courtesy Lisson.