Exhibitions
YOUR PLACE TO GET INSPIRED
EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS: ON VIEW
The Momentary brings exhibitions and artworks from around the world to the space to share more work by contemporary artists and display a broad story of today’s visual art.
Enduring Amazon: Life and Afterlife in the Rainforest
NOV 18, 2023 – APR 7, 2024
Enduring Amazon: Life and Afterlife in the Rainforest presents an emotionally-charged immersion in light, sound, and imagery that explores the delicate balance of life in the Amazon rainforest.
FREE: No tickets required.
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OUTDOOR ARTWORKS: ON VIEW
riffing Bentonville
This mural features animated drawings, or as artist Katie Merz calls them, “urban hieroglyphics.” The design of riffing bentonville speaks to the culture of Northwest Arkansas, referencing the outdoor recreation industry, the Momentary, and the region’s vibrant arts scene. Created with high-intensity paint markers, Merz and her crew made this work entirely freehanded and spontaneously. They were “quick to the draw” and completed the wall in a week and a half.
FREE: No tickets required.
Wind Sculpture (SG) VIII
In Wind Sculpture (SG) VIII, artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA created the dynamic movement of a piece of fabric caught in a gust of wind, rendered in a gravity-defying, solid fiberglass form at monumental scale. Evocative of the sails of ships that crossed the Atlantic to connect nations through the exchange of ideas, products, and people, its form captures histories that can be inspiring, brutal, and complex. It speaks to how the opening of the seas led not only to the transatlantic slave trade and colonization, but also gave rise to the dynamic contributions of Africans and African heritage worldwide.
FREE: No tickets required.
VENUSIAN ROSACEAE (FIVE SEEDED STAR)
Inspired by the history of the Momentary’s site as a former apple orchard, Maria Molteni’s Venusian Rosaceae explores the myriad of colors, shapes, and symbols associated with apples. Stretching 50 feet in diameter, the circular composition includes layers of five-point stars and infinitely connected braids, referencing the pentagonal shape of an apple’s core and the Dance of Venus—an astrological map of Venus retrogrades. For Molteni, the 2020 Venus retrograde (May 13 to June 25, 2020) was particularly significant as it coincided with the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement across the world. Molteni dedicates this mural to Queen Morgan and Baby Rose.
FREE: No tickets required.
YOU BELONG HERE
Tavares Strachan’s monumental neon sculpture, You Belong Here, is installed on the east-facing exterior wall of the Momentary, stretching 78 feet across and 25 feet high. This work is part of an ongoing series of site-responsive neon sculptures, and initiates a dialogue about how we define place and create a sense of belonging in our community.
FREE: No tickets required.
Sway
In 2018, Oklahoma-based artist Addie Roanhorse became the first artist commissioned to create a work of art for the Momentary. Her arrow pattern artwork, called Sway, is featured on the exterior glass of the Tower, the Container, and main entryway. A member of the Osage Nation, Roanhorse took inspiration from Osage attire to create the pattern, paying homage to the history of the land around the Momentary. With this artwork, we invite all to think about the Indigenous peoples with a connection to Northwest Arkansas.
FREE: No tickets required.
ABOVE & BELOW
Chad “Nish” Earles (Caddo) designed the glass scrim titled Above & Below that is located on the southwest and southeast corners of the structure. The design entails a pattern providing cultural reference to the Indigenous peoples of Arkansas and the land the Momentary currently occupies. The pattern references designs found in pottery created by ancestors of the Caddo Nation. The name of the design, Above & Below, recognizes that the Caddo are still here today, above and below the ground.
FREE: No tickets required.
EXHIBITIONS AND PROJECTS: UPCOMING
Dark Waters | Kristine Potter
MAY 11 – OCT 13, 2024
In Dark Waters, a tour de force of Southern Gothic Noir, Kristine Potter reinvents a centuries-old genre with coolness and clarity. With this recent collection of seductive and darkly brooding photographs, Potter reflects on the Southern Gothic mythos found in the popular imagination of “murder ballads”—traditional songs from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that often end in death and despair.
FREE: No tickets required.
Read moreMystic Parallax | Awol Erizku
MAY 19 – OCT 13, 2024
Encompassing photography, film, painting, sculpture, and installation, Awol Erizku’s work references and re-imagines African American and African visual culture, from hip-hop vernacular to iconic symbols from across history, including the Pan-African flag and the image of Nefertiti. Erizku’s vision is expansive, drawing on traditions of spirituality, Surrealism, and Conceptualism to create uniquely powerful art.
FREE: No tickets required.
Read moreBEST IN SHOW: PETS IN CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY
NOV 23, 2024 – APR 13, 2025
Through Best in Show, Momentary visitors will have the opportunity to explore the role that furry (and feathered) friends have played in culture and how they stand in as representations of status, power, loyalty, compassion and companionship through the perspectives of 25 global artists.
FREE: No tickets required.
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