The Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University opened its spring 2026 exhibitions on Feb. 13 with a free public celebration drawing students and community members. The evening included artist talks, film screenings, and live jazz music across multiple galleries, and served as the launch for what organizers called one of the center’s largest annual public events.

The centerpiece of the spring program is a newly commissioned 90-minute film by artist Naeem Mohaiemen examining student protests in 1970, including demonstrations that followed the shootings at Kent State University and Jackson State College. The exhibition incorporates historical works from the Wexner Center’s permanent collection from that period. The installation guides visitors from a brightly lit gallery into a darkened vestibule where the film screens. The program also features work by artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca.

The opening included a moderated conversation among Mohaiemen, Garrido-Lecca, and Martina Droth, curator of the Yale Center for British Art. Rebecca Lowery, the Wexner Center’s curator of exhibitions, described a unifying theme: “There is a consistency in all three artists looking to the past to try to understand the present and think about the future.” Free tickets are available through the center’s website at wexarts.org/exhibitions.

Source: The Lantern