Yesomi Umolu is General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut, the Netherlands’ national museum for architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam. Previously, she served as Director of Curatorial Affairs and Public Practice at Serpentine Galleries in London. Formerly she was Director and Curator, Logan Center Exhibitions at the University of Chicago, where she led an ambitious program of international contemporary art focused on emerging interdisciplinary practices. Prior to joining the Logan, Umolu held curatorial positions at the MSU Broad Museum; Walker Art Center; and Manifesta 8, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Umolu has worked on key solo exhibitions and commissioned projects with Assemble, Ursula Biemann, and Paulo Tavares, John Akomfrah, Mike Cloud, Mariana Castillo Deball, Kapwani Kiwanga, Candice Lin, Harold Mendez, Camille Norment, Karthik Pandian, and Andros Zins-Browne, among others. She was also the Artistic Director of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial—the largest architecture and design exhibition in North America. Her curatorial portfolio includes numerous exhibitions, commissions, and publications with renowned artists and architects. Umolu oversaw a critically acclaimed curatorial program featuring new commissions, off-site installations, and a host of performances, talks, workshops, and community engagements with over 80 international contributors.
In addition to her curatorial work, Umolu advises cultural and philanthropic organizations and frequently speaks around the world on museum practices. She was a trustee of the Graham Foundation in Chicago a member of the curatorial advisory board for the U.S. Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, and a 2016 recipient of the prestigious Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship. She has been a visiting lecturer and critic at numerous universities including Williams College; University College London; University of Michigan; and University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, among others.
