Current Exhibitions

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  Louder than Words

  February 2 – May 5, 2019

  Curator: Teresa Bramlette Reeves

  This exhibition features artists who, in a variety of ways, privilege silence, non-linguistic sounds, symbols, and gestures over words as tools of communication. Within the often-performative space of their work, they may surrender their own power in order to shine a light on the condition of powerlessness. They may use their bodies to convey complex emotions or simulate sensations that focus your experience. Some, who work within the imposed condition of deafness, reveal the gaps inherent in communication—what is missing, misunderstood, intentionally ignored, or entirely invented. An emphasis on action over words reveals an opportunity for silent protest, suggesting the possibility of fearlessness in the nonverbal. In other work, sounds and words are muted, restricted, and undermined. The loss of this information is then made palpable, drawing attention to questions of intention and what this choice may mean socially or politically.

  Artists included are Terry Adkins, Christopher Adler, Dara Birnbaum, John Cage, James Castle, Nick Cave, Joseph Grigley, Dana Haugaard, Sarah Hobbs, Vanessa Yvonne Jagodinsky, Katelyn Rose King, Christine Sun Kim, Alison O’Daniel, Yoko Ono, Alix Pearlstein, Trevor Reese, and Geo Sipp. 

  Exhibition Guide

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  Sahwa/Resurgence: works by Hicham Berrada

  February 2 – May 5, 2019

  Curator: Joe Thomas

  In observation of the KSU’s Year of Morocco, the ZMA presents Sahwa/ Resurgence: works by Hicham Berrada.

  Originally trained as a scientist in Morocco, the work of Paris-based artist Hicham Berrada exposes the beauty that can result from disruptive interactions. Represented in this exhibition by six video works, these collisions of chemicals in solution or man-made interventions in the environment create an efflorescence—or rebirth— into something new, a quality conveyed by the Arabic word sahwa. The resulting dreamlike visions represent a resurgence of something mundane or unappreciated into something eerily beautiful.

  Exhibition Guide

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  Sonya Yong James: One Hundred Blossoms and the Sweetest Scent

  August 25, 2018 - Summer 2019

  Curator: Sarah Higgins

  Sonya Yong James’ year-long solo exhibition on the ZMA stairwell project wall, One Hundred Blossoms and the Sweetest Scent is a large-scale mixed-media installation.

  Taking inspiration from the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, artist Sonya Jong James weaves together fiber, flowers, roots, and found objects to explore the themes of this fable and their evolution over time. She says, “The girl and wolf inhabit a place, call it the forest or the human psyche, where the spectrum of human sagas converges, and their social and cultural meanings play out.”

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  Ruth V. Zuckerman Collection: Inside Out

  Ongoing

  Curator: Teresa Bramlette Reeves

  For the preservation of artwork, museums must often hold their permanent collections in storage rather than on public view. "Visible storage," maintains necessary safe-keeping of the objects while allowing museum visitors to see and study work that would otherwise be unavailable. This installation employs visible storage to showcase a substantial number of Ruth Zuckerman's sculptures and drawings from the KSU Permanent Collection, while making aspects of a collection's care transparent for the public.