John Akomfrah: Listening All Night To The Rain

A new work by Sir John Akomfrah RA will go on display at Walker Art Gallery in May 2026. The new work, commissioned by the British Council, continues the artist and filmmaker’s investigation into themes of memory, migration, racial injustice and climate

A new work by Sir John Akomfrah RA will go on display at Walker Art Gallery in May 2026. The new work, commissioned by the British Council, continues the artist and filmmaker’s investigation into themes of memory, migration, racial injustice and climate change with a renewed focus on the act of listening and the sonic. The exhibition consists of multi-screen sound and time-based works, and is seen as a manifesto that encourages the idea of listening as activism and positions various progressive theories of acoustemology: how new ways of becoming are rooted in different forms of listening. Akomfrah’s work interprets and transforms the fabric of the space in order to interrogate relics and monuments of colonial histories. Open-ended in structure, the alliterative nature of the exhibition is reflective of the artist’s abiding interest in non-linear forms of storytelling and collage. Listening All Night To The Rain repositions the role of art in its ability to write history in unexpected ways, forming both critical and poetic connections between different geographies and time periods. John Akomfrah said: “Listening All Night To The Rain’s final ensemble of installations – iterations of acoustemology – detours back to questions of memory and of memorial but from a different vantage point, questioning the architectonics of the present and the spectres of the past, with the idea of listening as activism in mind. I sense that one can know the world – that you can find a name, an identity and a sense of belonging – via the sonic.” London-based Akomfrah RA is known for his immersive multi-channel film installations, which explore major issues including racial injustice, colonial legacies, diasporic identities, migration and climate change. Listening All Night To the Rain by John Akomfrah was commissioned by the British Council for the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2024. Co-commissioner Lisson Gallery, Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Smoking Dogs Films. The Commission and UK Tour of Listening All Night To The Rain is supported by Art Fund.

What to expect:
Film / Video