Born on October 14, 1964 in Aba, Nigeria, Oguibe was educated in Nigeria and England. In 1986 he earned a degree in Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Nigeria. In 1992 he received a PhD in art history from the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London for his thesis 'Uzo Egonu: An African Artist in the West'.

Oguibe taught critical theory at Goldsmiths College before moving to the United States. To date his art has been shown in major museums and galleries around the world including the Whitney Museum of American Art; Whitechapel Gallery and the Barbican Center, London; Migros Museum, Zurich; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, among many others; as well as in the Havana, Busan, and Johannesburg biennials, and most recently at the 2007 Venice Biennial. His public art works may be found in Germany, Japan and Korea. Oguibe has previously taught in several colleges including the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of South Florida where he held the Stuart Golding Endowed Chair in African Art.

He has also served as curator or co-curator for numerous exhibitions. These include the 2nd Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art in Genoa and Albisola, Italy in 2003; Vidarte 2002: International Video and Media Art Festival at the Palacio Postal, Mexico City in 2002; Century City at the Tate Modern, London, in 2001; Authentic/Ex-centric: Africa in and out of Africa for the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001, and Five Continents and One City: 3rd International Salon of Painting at the Museo de la Ciudad, Mexico City in 2000. He has served as advisor for the Dakar, Johannesburg, and Havana biennials and as critic-in-residence at the Art Omi International artists’ residency.

Olu Oguibe’s critical and theoretical writings have appeared in several key volumes including The Dictionary of Art, Art History and its Methods, Art in Theory 1900-2000, The Visual Culture Reader, The Third Text Reader on Art and Culture, The Black British Culture and Society Reader, and Theory in Contemporary Art: From 1985 to the Present, as well as numerous serials such as Frieze, Flash Art International, Art Journal, Texte zur Kunst, Zum Thema, Third Text and Criterios. His most recent books include Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace (MIT Press, 2000) and The Culture Game (University of Minnesota Press, 2004).

He is a naturalized American citizen and makes his home in the historic town of Rockville, Connecticut.