A Summer of Community Exhibitions with Urban Arts Space
The hot summer season brings exciting perspectives in overlooked ways: through nature, the body, and identity. Urban Arts Space is enthusiastic to announce four multimedia exhibitions between May and August, and we invite you to come celebrate the artworks and artists with us!
In late May through June, we will feature We Just Still in our full gallery, showcasing Black cultural creativity and expression. From mid-July to mid-August, Homing will be on display alongside The Black Madonna & Other Sacred Spaces in a shared gallery space. Homing is a collaborative exhibition that explores our relationship to landscapes through audio, movement, and film. The Black Madonna & Other Sacred Spaces explores cultural experiences centered around healing and sacred creative practices. At our satellite location, Hopkins Hall Gallery, on The Ohio State University’s main campus, By Our Nature will be on view from mid-August to mid-October and will focus on the ties between the natural world and queer identity.
Artist Commune – For Us: A Function
Friday, May 29, 6:30–8:30 PM at Rich Street Records
This special Artist Commune will set the tone for our summer exhibitions at Urban Arts Space, where we’ll celebrate making authentic connections through art. Inspired by Memorial Day cookouts, being outside all day, the pool finally opening, old songs playing through speakers, crate digging, dancing with your people, and the way communities have always created joy and connection through music.
Come listen, move, reconnect, and celebrate the beginning of summer with us.
We Just Still
May 27–June 27 at Urban Arts Space
In this group exhibition, curator Iyana Hill and co-curator Jonathan Johnson highlight the creativity and innovation of hood culture throughout history and its widespread impact on today’s global trends. The hood has long been a space of creativity, rebellion, and self-expression, and the audience will interact with these cultural contributions and art made through Black self-expression. Viewers will witness the beauty of struggle within the community that have led to the redefining of music, contemporary fashion, visual arts, and hip-hop. The programming will celebrate the resilience born from Black and marginalized neighborhoods and how it has continued to transform the world today.
Reception: Saturday, May 30, 3–6 PM at Urban Arts Space
We Just Still x Hip-Hop Literacies Fest:
+ Launch Party: Friday, June 5, 6–10 PM at Urban Arts Space
+ Conference: Saturday, June 6, 8 AM–5:30 PM at Sullivant Hall, Ohio State Main Campus
+ We Just Still Cypher: Saturday, June 6, 7:30–10 PM, Maroon Culture Lab
Artist Commune: Still Great: Friday, June 26, 6:30–8:30 PM at Urban Arts Space
Marcus Jackson Book Launch: Love's Austere and Lonely Offices
Thursday, June 18, 7–9 PM at Urban Arts Space
Join us for the book release celebration of Marcus Jackson's collection of street portraits and poems, Love's Austere and Lonely Offices. Books will be available for purchase, the author will sign copies, and there will be music and refreshments.
LAUNCH PARTY for Artist Commune Journal: Issue Two
Thursday, June 25, 6–8 PM at Urban Arts Space
Urban Arts Space is thrilled to share the second issue of the Artist Commune Journal. This print publication features work from artists within the Columbus community, art organizations across Central Ohio, and arts-based researchers at academic institutions.
This issue, themed around Process/Practice/Praxis, includes visual art, personal essays, poetry, arts research, artist interviews, and video/film. Join the celebration, meet the contributors, and grab your free copy of the Artist Commune Journal at the event
Homing: Site Reflections
July 14–August 15 at Urban Arts Space
This collaborative exhibition, created by artists Katherine G. Moore and Kathryn Nusa Logan, immerses visitors in exploring embodied relationships through sound and movement. Participatory performance, audio, film, and documented footage are combined in this sensory-focused project. A new participatory experience will launch during this exhibition that allows participants to experience the Lazarus Building Rooftop Garden with a shared audio guide.
Alongside the video documentation, the audience is encouraged to reflect on their own bodily awareness and relationship to the environment. The Attention Lab workshop combines art and science in highlighting the role of native insects in urban ecosystems and providing a mindfulness movement experience.
Shared Reception: Friday, July 17, 6–8 PM at Urban Arts Space
Rooftop Audio & Movement Experience: Thursday, July 9 from 5–6 PM and 7–8 PM at the Lazarus Building Rooftop Garden (RSVP required—registration will open in June)
Attention Lab: Saturday, August 15, 1–3 PM at Urban Arts Space
The Black Madonna & Other Sacred Spaces
July 14–August 15 at Urban Arts Space
The Black Madonna, a symbol of resilience and spiritual perseverance, will be on display in this immersive exhibition and engage the viewers with themes of sacredness within the African Diaspora. Visuals and installations within this exhibition portray Black Madonna as both symbol and portal, centering ancestral memory, divinity, and maternal power across time.
Programming will include interactive care studios, workshops, and healing-focused gatherings.
A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Tuesday, July 21, 7 PM
Wexner Center for the Arts Film & Video
The Listening Room Presents: Straight Through, An Atemporal Experience
Wednesday, July 22, 7 PM
Location TBD
Artist Commune: Mystic Sticks (A Hand-Rolled Incense Making Workshop)
Friday, July 31, 6:30–8:30 PM
Urban Arts Space
The Care Studio: Interactive Rituals for Skin, Body, and Self Love
Friday, August 7, 6:30–8:30 PM
Urban Arts Space
The Listening Room Presents: Straight Through, An Atemporal Experience
Saturday, August 15, 2 PM
Location TBD
By Our Nature
August 17–October 16 at Hopkins Hall Gallery
This photography-based exhibition examines the relationship between the natural world and queer identities. By Our Nature urges viewers to engage with our socially perceived definition of what is “natural.” The audience is pushed further to investigate their personal relationship to landscapes and nature in light of environmental loss. Free public events will include a queer-centered poetry reading and music performance.
Programming details forthcoming.
Visitors are invited to our free programming throughout the summer, listed at uas.osu.edu/events. For exhibitions and event announcements, follow Urban Arts Space on Instagram @urbanartsspace or subscribe to our newsletter.