Wexner Center for the Arts’ annual open house: A sneak peek into what the Wex is all about

People gather on the steps of the Wexner Center for the Arts to enjoy a previous Open House. Credit: Courtesy of Wexner Center for the Arts

Though many events welcome Ohio State students back to Columbus in August, the Wexner Center for the Arts’ open house is always one to watch. 

Beginning at 4 p.m. Aug. 19, the open house will give students a chance to see what the center — an on-campus hub for art of all mediums and disciplines — offers year-round, according to its website. 

Emily Haidet, curator of public programs for the center’s Department of Learning and Public Practice, said the open house’s main goal is garnering excitement about the center’s upcoming happenings. Still, she said celebrating successful exhibits from the summer is also an integral component. 

“We tried to highlight some things that are happening in our orbit, whether it’s current exhibitions or upcoming series,” Haidet said.

Somewhat contrary to past years, Haidet said this year’s open house will spotlight current exhibits — including Jonas N.T. Becker’s “A Hole is Not a Void” and Tanya Lukin Linklater’s “Inner blades of grass (soft) inner blades of grass (cured) inner blades of grass (bruised by the weather)” — that have been running all summer and will close Aug. 21.

“We really want to take this opportunity to share the exhibitions with the students who are back on campus,” Haidet said. “Jonas [Becker] will be here and will have a conversation during open house. It will be in the galleries, and it’ll be kind of a casual, informal drop-in conversation. In addition to the conversations with Jonas, our other exhibiting artist Tanya Lukin Linklater will also be back for a conversation.”

The center’s website said “A Hole is Not a Void” examines issues surrounding socioeconomic issues in Appalachia. Haidet said Becker’s exhibition contains photographic, video, sculptural and installation-based elements. 

“They’re an artist originally from West Virginia, and their work looks at land and labor and extraction and how those structures have an impact on environmental injustice, inequity,” Haidet said. 

According to the center’s website, Lukin Linklater’s exhibition is related to the artist’s upbringing in Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago, with a focus on weather and how it affects indigenous artistic practices like basket weaving. 

“Her work is really looking at weather structures and systems that connect to things that are happening in our communities,” Haidet said. 

Haidet said one particular aspect of Lukin Linklater’s exhibition — the “Hair Prints” series, which pertains to the process of creating natural dyes — will become a hands-on activity for everyone who visits the open house. 

“There will be different watercolors made by things in the lab or grown out on-campus that folks will be able to use in a hands-on art making station,” Haidet said. “You can take a kit with you and do it somewhere else, but you’ll be able to make little bookmarks, or postcards or just experiment however you want.”

The center is also known for its film selections throughout the academic year. Layla Benali, curatorial assistant in the center’s Film/Video Department, said Iranian film “Gabbeh” — created and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf — will be screened during the open house to complement its different activities and conversations. 

Benali said the idea to screen “Gabbeh” came from the open house’s previously described emphasis on natural dyes and inks. 

“It’s a film about a rug, basically, which sounds very simple,” Benali said. “But it’s about a magic rug that comes to life, so it has a lot of very gorgeous images of colors, of the process of making rugs.”

A screencap from Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s “Gabbeh” , a film to be shown during the upcoming Open House. Credit: Courtesy of Wexner Center for the Arts

Besides being a love letter to color, the film also speaks to the center’s commitment to showing a vast range of films, Benali said. 

“We also show very popular [films],” Benali said. “We showed ‘Shrek’ last year, so for anyone who gets intimidated, sometimes we show really popular, well-known films, but we also balance that out with films you might not be able to see on your couch.”

Apart from content, Benali said the center also cares about film’s specific formats when it comes to planning screenings.

“We want to be able to show a film in the best possible format, in the best way,” Benali said. “If there’s a film print of it, we want to be able to show it on that. We want to be able to show it on 35[mm] or even on 70[mm] or on 16[mm].”

Benali said “Gabbeh” achieves illustrating imagery and color in a way only film can.

“I think it really is so true to its medium,” Benali said. “It’s very like, ‘Yeah, this is what film can be.’”

For more information on the exhibitions, the screening of “Gabbeh” and this year’s open house in general, visit the center’s website.