Suite of new exhibitions

The Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University will present a suite of exhibitions generated by artists with shared beliefs in activism, ecological concerns, and art as a tool for empowerment. Each features never-before-seen works commissioned by the center or supported by a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award. The exhibitions are on view February 11–July 9, 2023.

Meditation Ocean Constellation: Meditation Ocean
Meditation Ocean works for climate justice through underwater meditations and terrestrial actions that prompt us to consider the interdependence of human and environmental healing. The project is conceived and directed by Hope Ginsburg (she/her) and made by the Meditation Ocean Constellation, which comprises artists, writers, educators, meditators, musicians, curators, divers, and scientists.

At the center of the exhibition is M.O. Turtlegrass Meadow (2023), a large-screen, six-channel video installation that creates an immersive ocean environment, inviting contemplation and engagement.

This is the culmination of Ginsburg’s two-year Artist Residency Award and her decades-long relationship with the Wex.

Meditation Ocean is curated by Film/Video Studio Curator Jennifer Lange. A gallery guide will include a preface by Lange and texts by Melody Jue and Anaïs Duplan.

Sa’dia Rehman: the river runs slow and deep and all the bones of my ancestors / have risen to the surface to knock and click like the sounds of trees in the air
Sa’dia Rehman (they/them), a two-year Wexner Center Artist Residency Award recipient, will share a new body of work exploring memory, grief, and migration.

The displacement of Rehman’s family in 1974 from their village in Pakistan by the building of the Tarbela Dam on the Indus River serves as a beginning for their project. A poem by Rehman’s sister, Bushra, provides the exhibition’s title.

Beyond their family history, Rehman looks toward global history of land and water, and narratives of passages and home, conducting expansive archival research and dialogues with relatives, community members, scientists, and environmentalists.

the river runs slow is curated by Director of Learning and Public Practice Dionne Custer Edwards. A gallery guide will include a text by Custer Edwards and a dialogue between Rehman and curator, writer, and educator Regine Basha.

A.K. Burns: Of space we are…
A.K. Burns’s largest solo exhibition to date considers the intersection between the human, nonhuman, and the environment—and the value systems that guide our perceptions of each. The centerpiece is Negative Space, a layered narrative composed of four video installations that explore the intersection of essential physical systems: the void, the body, land, or water. Viewers will for the first time be able to experience the complete tetralogy and a new, Wex-commissioned work, What Is Perverse Is Liquid (2023). Negative Space takes place in an imagined moment where boundaries are permeable, and hierarchies are thrown into question.  Each installation features a community of artists, choreographers, and musicians and a soundtrack by Geo Wyex.

The exhibition includes related works created for Negative Space, along with a significant body of sculptures and wall works produced over the last decade. A catalogue, Negative Space, copublished by the Wex and Dancing Foxes Press is forthcoming.

Of space we are… is curated by Chief Curator of Exhibitions Kelly Kivland.

Anna Tsouhlarakis: The Native Guide Project: Columbus
An artist of Navajo, Creek, and Greek descent, Anna Tsouhlarakis (she/her) reframes the discourse around Native American identity. For this exhibition, she trains her eye on the forced migration of Indigenous peoples—including in the Central Ohio area.

A new, multilayered commission, The Native Guide Project: Columbus builds on Tsouhlarakis’s The Native Guide Project (2019–present), which deploys phrases that are variously poignant and will engage the Wex’s interior and exterior spaces, as well as sites around Columbus through a partnership with Orange Barrel Media.

This exhibition is curated by Kelly Kivland. 

Events
Anna Tsouhlarakis, Breath of the Wind (2007): January 9–February 28
Video work highlighting the devastating long-term effects of environmental racism in Anna Tsouhlarakis’ community.

Exhibition preview: February 10, 4–9pm

Breathe: An artist-led meditation series: March 4–April 8
A hybrid meditation series featuring Hope Ginsburg, Cadine Navarro, and Anaïs Duplan

Hope Ginsburg in conversation: March 9, 5:30–7pm
Ginsburg discusses Meditation Ocean w/curator Jennifer Lange and editor Alexis McCrimmon. Streams on wexarts.org

Sa’dia Rehman and Jean Shin in conversation: March 30, 5–6:30pm
Rehman and Shin discuss process and practice. Streams on wexarts.org

Hope Ginsburg, Cadine Navarro, and Anaïs Duplan: April 20, 6–8pm
Ginsburg, Navarro, and Duplan reflect on how breathwork and meditation connects to their practice.