The Wexner Center for the Arts will host an opening celebration for its spring 2026 exhibitions Friday. Credit: Katie Good | Lantern File Photo
The Wexner Center for the Arts will host an opening celebration for its spring 2026 exhibitions Friday at 4 p.m., featuring new artwork, talks with artists, film screenings and live jazz music.?
The multi-gallery event will bring students and community members together for what organizers said is one of the center’s largest nights of the year, offering visitors the chance to explore the exhibition and hear directly from artists and curators at the free campus event.?
According to Rebecca Lowery, curator of exhibitions at the Wex, the evening is designed to showcase the range of artistic practices on view while highlighting shared themes that connect the exhibitions.
“It’s a very diverse group of artists and types of art practices on view,” Lowery said. “There is a consistency in all three artists looking to the past to try to understand the present and think about the future.”
Lowery said featured artist Naeem Mohaiemen’s exhibition centers on a newly commissioned 90-minute film that examines student protests in 1970, including those stemming from the Kent State and Jackson State College shootings. She said the exhibition also incorporates works from the Wex’s collection that date back largely to the same era.
“We worked together with the artist to pull works from the collection that are related to these histories,” Lowery said. “So you’ll see a lot of historical moments being reflected in the artwork that’s on view as well.”
The physical layout of the exhibition is intended to guide how audiences encounter the work. The film will also have its own special viewing area within the exhibition.
“You’ll see the artwork first in a brightly lit room,” Lowery said. “Turn to your left and you’ll see, kind of a dark vestibule, and that’s where the film will be screening.”
In addition to the exhibitions, the opening celebration will include a moderated conversation featuring Mohaiemen, featured artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca and curator Martina Droth of the Yale Center for British Art. Erik Pepple, director of marketing content at the Wex, said the talk plays a central role in the evening’s atmosphere.
“It’s really lovely to hear directly from the people who made these things,” Pepple said. “To think about how they did that work [and] what they were thinking about.”
Pepple said the opening celebration captures what the Wex aims to offer at its best — an energetic space where audiences come together to experience new work they may not see anywhere else.
“Openings at the Wex are always super fun,” Pepple said. “Getting to see a lot of this new work, or work that’s been traveling around the world. [It’s] the only place, really, in Columbus, and in some instances Ohio, that you’re gonna see this.”
Tickets to the event are free and can be reserved on the Wex’s website.
