A Multiplicity of Art and Events

Summer 2024 update from Vradenburg Director and CEO Jonathan P. Binstock

This summer, you must see Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, and when you do, please plan to spend some time looking closely. For many, collage can be deceptively simple, as if it were just gluing together scraps of paper. That is most certainly not the case here—I promise there is something for everyone to be profoundly impressed by in Multiplicity. Because of its material intricacies, collage is a medium for viewers to pore over, dig into, and to discover layered depths, unexpected juxtapositions, and visceral complexities. 

Through painstaking and thoughtful cutting, tearing, scraping, embellishing, stitching, constructing, and more, the 49 artists in Multiplicity have created poignant, thought-provoking artworks that address the intersectional multifacetedness of Black identity. The exhibition presents so many important artists working today, and I cannot wait to meet and hear from several of them during our programs this summer. Equally powerful, on view at Phillips@THEARC is an exhibition of recent collage works by DC-based artist, art educator, and curator Zsudayka Nzinga. And on view in our community exhibition space is Make Sense of This: My Life, My Art, My Collage, featuring over 100 student artworks created through our Art Links program that respond to Multiplicity in creative ways.

I am excited to welcome Tie Jojima as our newly established Curator of Global Contemporary Art. Tie is a noted Asian-Latin American curator, art historian, and educator, born and raised in São Paulo. She has a specialty in modern and contemporary Latin American art with additional training in the history of photography. Tie’s scholarship and curatorial practice will further the Phillips’s lifelong commitment to presenting, acquiring, and fostering a greater understanding of transnational, interdisciplinary voices in contemporary art. You will hear more from her soon.

I continue to be amazed by the work that we do. We have monthly artist-led workshops at Phillips@THEARC. We collaborate with PK12 educators to develop arts-integrated curricula. We also have a program for care partners and their loved ones living with dementia to use art to strengthen their relationships. When I am in the galleries, I see guests of all ages enjoying the art on our walls, having coffee at Bread Furst café, and sitting on the stoop of our 1897 Phillips House chatting with friends.

Please visit again this summer to see new acquisitions, learn new collaging techniques, participate in one of our daily Spotlight Talks, and enjoy our air-conditioned galleries!