Exterior of Cobb Hall, the Collegiate Gothic limestone building on Ellis Avenue that houses The Renaissance Society on its fourth floor

Karimah Ashadu: Tendered

Ended12 September 2026 – 1 November 2026Free

This exhibition has ended.

Moving-image works and sculpture by British-Nigerian artist Karimah Ashadu, centred on the new film MUSCLE, which follows bodybuilders training in Lagos and the labour that shapes them.

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On now All of November 2026

MUSCLE follows bodybuilders as they train in the slums of Lagos, and it runs 22 minutes and 20 seconds. This is its US debut, co-commissioned by the Renaissance Society with Fondazione In Between Art Film and Camden Art Centre.

The film is shown as a moving-image installation, with new sculptural works drawn from the film's environments, among them one titled Pure Rugged Water. The press text places bodybuilding in "a broader field of exertion: the body as site of labor, investment, and self-fashioning." Reviewing the show at Camden Art Centre in London, Cici Peng wrote in e-flux that "you feel these films before you think about them" and called MUSCLE "mesmerizing". If you've ever hauled groceries up from the 59th Street Metra platform in February, you already know something about the body as a site of labor.

Entry is free, no ticket needed. The gallery is on Cobb Hall's fourth floor, closed Monday and Tuesday, and the show ends 1 November.

Editor's pick

Moving image and sculpture by the British-Nigerian artist Karimah Ashadu, built around her new film MUSCLE, which follows bodybuilders training in Lagos. Admission is free, which is more than any gym can say.

Look for

MUSCLE (2025)
A 22-minute film in colour with stereo sound, following bodybuilders training in Lagos, shown for the first time in the US.
Pure Rugged Water
A sculptural work made alongside the film; in London it was shown as small glass pieces, about 12 x 15 x 7 cm each.