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The Museum of Modern Art announces Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life, a new site-specific commission in the Museum’s main lobby, opening on April 8, 2025, and on view through 2025. For this project, Odita and his team will work from February to April to envelop the entire lobby in bright planes of interweaving colors. Visitors will have the opportunity to see the artist at work during public hours, and can scan a QR code to listen to an accompanying playlist of songs Odita used as primary sources of inspiration for the commission.
Organized by Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi, The Steve and Lisa Tananbaum Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, with Elizabeth Wickham, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture.
Leadership support for the commission is provided by the Steven A. and Lisa Tananbaum Endowment for Contemporary Art Commissions.
Press Kit
Images
Odili Donald Odita. Celebration Day/Nobody Knows. 2025. Digital rendering. Courtesy of the artist.
Odili Donald Odita. Teardrop/Do It Good/Brand New Day. 2025. Digital rendering. Courtesy of the artist.
Installation in progress view of the exhibition “Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life,” April 8, 2025 – April 2026. Photographed in March 2025. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo by Jonathan Dorado.
Installation in progress view of the exhibition “Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life,” April 8, 2025 – April 2026. Photographed in March 2025. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Digital Image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo by Jonathan Dorado.
Portrait of Odili Donald Odita, 2023. Photo: Natalie Kahn, Courtesy the artist.