The Wexner Center for the Arts is the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

". The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of

Limited Brands Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $11.9 billion in revenue in 2021, and was ...

founder

Leslie Wexner Leslie Herbert Wexner (born September 8, 1937) is an American billionaire businessman, the founder and chairman emeritus of Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly Limited Brands). Wexner grew a business empire after starting The Limited, a clothing re ...

, who was a major donor to the center. The Wexner Center is a lab and public gallery, but not an art museum, as it does not collect art. However, when the center was constructed, it replaced the University Gallery of Fine Arts, and assumed possession and stewardship of the University Gallery's permanent collection of roughly 3,000 art works. The collection serves a secondary role in the center's programs in the visual, media and performing arts. The Wexner Center is made available to OSU students and scholars for study, and is open to the public.

History

The precursor was the University Gallery of Fine Art which was curated by the university's fine art director. In 1970, under Director Betty Collings' leadership, the gallery began hosting major contemporary artists and acquiring the collection that would become the Wexner Center as a response to student grievances about the Kent State shootings. In the 1980s, Jonathan Green became director and acquired art that expressed activism. The gallery's final exhibit was “AIDS: The Artists’ Response” in 1989 prior to the opening of the Wexner Center. The $43 million Wexner Center, commissioned by

, was named after the father of Leslie H. Wexner, chairman of Limited Brands, an Ohio native and Ohio State alumnus who pledged $25 million to the project.Robin Pogrebin (September 18, 2005)
Extreme Makeover: Museum Edition
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Peter Eisenman won the design competition for the Wexner in 1983 over four other, more experienced finalists:

Cesar Pelli Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * Ces ...

;

Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gr ...

;

Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Kallmann McKinnell & Wood is an architectural design firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1962 as Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles by Gerhard Kallmann (1915-2012), Michael McKinnell (1935–2020), and Edward Knowles. Histo ...

; and

Arthur Erickson Arthur Charles Erickson (June 14, 1924 – May 20, 2009) was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Engineering at the University of British Columbia and, in 1950, received his B.Arch. (Honours) from McGill University. He is known ...

. (Each was paired with a local architect.) ''Progressive Architecture'' magazine devoted a whole issue to the building even before it was finished. The Wexner Center opened on November 17, 1989, and architects like

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the po ...

, Richard Meier and

Charles Gwathmey Charles Gwathmey (June 19, 1938 – August 3, 2009) was an American architect. He was a principal at Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, as well as one of the five architects identified as The New York Five in 1969. Gwathmey was perhaps be ...

convened in Columbus to mark the building's completion with a public forum on the state of American architecture.Paul Goldberger (November 5, 1989)
The Museum That Theory Built
''

''. The event was hailed by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most eagerly awaited architectural events of the last decade." During its three-year renovation between 2002 and 2005, the Wexner relocated its galleries in a former coffin factory two miles away, while the performing arts and film programs continued at the center. It typically drew 200,000 to 250,000 visitors a year before the renovation. In November 2005, the Wexner Center reopened.

Architecture

The Wexner Center's , three-story building was designed by architects Peter Eisenman of New York and the late Richard Trott of Columbus with landscape architect

Laurie Olin Laurie Olin (born 1938, Marshfield, Wisconsin) is an American landscape architect. He has worked on landscape design projects at diverse scales, from private residential gardens to public parks and corporate/museum campus plans. Early life Olin g ...

of Philadelphia. It was the first major public building to be designed by Eisenman, previously known primarily as a teacher and theorist. Based on the controversial theory that art should be "challenged" by its environment rather than displayed neutrally, the museum raised Eisenman's profile and he went on to design and build a number of other major projects including the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin.Hugo Lindgren
ARCHITECTURE; A Little Fascist Architecture Goes a Long Way
''The New York Times'', October 12, 2003, accessed May 10, 2018. When determining the site, Eisenman and Trott rejected four options from OSU in favor of their own site between Weigel Hall, home of the School of Music, and Mershon Auditorium, a 3,000-seat hall. The design includes a large, white metal grid meant to suggest

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

, to give the building a sense of incompleteness in tune with the architect's

deconstructivist Deconstructivism is a movement of postmodern architecture which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, continuity, or symmetry. ...

tastes. Eisenman also took note of the mismatched street grids of the OSU campus and the city of Columbus, which vary by 12.25 degrees, and designed the Wexner Center to alternate which grids it followed. The result was a building of sometimes questionable functionality, but admitted architectural interest. The center's brick turrets make reference to the Ohio State University Armory and Gymnasium, a castle-like building that occupied the site until 1958. Included in the Wexner Center space are a film and video theater, a performance space – the Mershon Center stage, which seats 2,500 for dance, music, theater, multimedia productions and lectures –,Danya Issawi (November 28, 2018)
Wexner Center for the Arts Names a New Director, From New York
''

''. a film and video post production studio, a bookstore, café, and 12,000 square feet (1,100 m²) of galleries. The galleries are placed linearly in the building space to emphasize progression. The Fine Arts Library was located to the lower level of the building. Devoid of natural light, the architects employed an alternating warm and cool fluorescent lighting to mimic daylight and a grey palate that put the focus on the collection. In 1993, the Wexner Center installed

Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...

's large-scale site-specific installation ''Groundswell''. The work reinterprets Eastern and Western landscape forms in shattered tempered glass to fill in three sites of the building's design. That year, the building won the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

' National Honor Award. The 2005 renovation originally enlisted the help of a local firm, then switched to Arup. In addition to the building envelope, the scope of renovation includes HVAC, lighting, electrical, plumbing, fire protection systems. The renovation works had a minimum impact on the original architectural design while improving environmental, daylight and climate control. With the restoration of the center as a whole, the bookstore, film and video theater, and café sections were all revamped, equipment and layout-wise.

Programs

Exhibitions

Hallway in the Wexner Center for the Arts

Notable exhibitions include: Chris Marker: ''Silent Movie'',

Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King'' debuted in 1997, and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for Best ...

: ''Playing With Fire'',

Shirin Neshat Shirin Neshat ( fa, شیرین نشاط; born March 26, 1957 in Qazvin) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and th ...

: ''Suite Fantastique, As Painting: Division and Displacement, Mood River'', Pier Paolo Calzolari, ''Part Object Part Sculpture, Twice Untitled and Other Pictures (looking back)'', Louise Lawler, Chris Marker ''Staring Back'', William Wegman: ''Funney/Strange'', Andy Warhol: ''Other Voices, Other Rooms'', and William Forsythe: ''Transfigurations''. In 2002, the Wexner staged ''Mood River'', one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of industrial and commercial design staged in America, featuring artwork by Simparch, Tony Cragg, and E.V. Day; designs by Peter Eisenman, Kivi Sotamaa, and Ben van Berkel; and "products" like the Stealth Bomber and the Redman Self-Defense Instructor suits. In 2017, the gallery featured an exhibition by

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

. In 2018, the Wexner showcased the works of 16 artists working in contemporary abstraction, including Eric N. Mack,

Sam Gilliam Sam Gilliam ( ; November 30, 1933 – June 25, 2022) was an American color field painter and lyrical abstractionist artist. Gilliam was associated with the Washington Color School, a group of Washington, D.C.-area artists that developed a form ...

and

Zachary Armstrong Zachary is a male given name, a variant of Zechariah (given name), Zechariah – the name of Zechariah (list of biblical figures), several Biblical characters. People *Pope Zachary (679–752), Pope of the Catholic Church from 741 to 752 *Zachar ...

. In 2019, the Wexner Center kicked off its 30th anniversary year of exhibitions with "HERE: Ann Hamilton,

Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer (born July 29, 1950) is an American neo-conceptual artist, based in Hoosick, New York. The main focus of her work is the delivery of words and ideas in public spaces and includes large-scale installations, advertising billboards, ...

Film/Video Theater

The Wexner Center's Film/Video department is known for screening films that are new and different, rare and classic, or just too edgy for the multiplex. They have a year-round theater program that includes independent films, international cinema, new documentaries, classics, and experimental film. Films are often accompanied by visiting filmmakers discussing their works for the public. The Film/Video department presents more than 180 films and videos annually in all formats and genres in the center's Film/Video Theater that seats about 300; hosts visiting filmmakers year-round; operates the Film/Video Studio Program (known as the Art & Technology program until 2010), which is an in-kind residency program that offers production and post-production support to filmmakers and video artists; programs The Box, the center's dedicated video exhibition space; and organizes gallery-based exhibitions involving moving image media. The department was given the "Outstanding Organization" Award from NAMAC, the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, in 2002.

Performing arts

Creative residency and commissioning projects for artists include: Bill T. Jones,

Anne Bogart Anne Bogart (born September 25, 1951) is an American theatre and opera director. She is currently one of the Artistic Directors of SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. She is a professor at Columbia Uni ...

and the SITI Company,

Big Art Group Big Art Group is a New York City-based experimental performance ensemble that uses language and media to push formal boundaries of theatre, film and visual arts to create culturally transgressive works. It has publicly declared its goal as the de ...

, Ann Hamilton (in collaboration with Meg Stuart and subsequently with Meredith Monk), Improbable Theatre, Bebe Miller, The Builders Association, Akram Khan, Elizabeth Streb, Eiko & Koma,

The Wooster Group The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group (1967–1980) during the period from 1975 to 1980, an ...

, Savion Glover, Urban Bush Women, Anthony Davis, Richard Maxwell, da da kamera, Mark Morris, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, and

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

Artist awards

The Wexner Prize

Established in 1992, the Wexner Prize recognizes an artist whose work reflects exceptional innovation and the highest standards of artistic quality and integrity. The prize includes a $50,000 award and an engraved commemorative sculpture designed by

Jim Dine Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American artist whose œuvre extends over sixty years. Dine’s work includes painting, drawing, printmaking (in many forms including lithographs, etchings, gravure, intaglio, woodcuts, l ...

in 1991. Programs at the Wexner Center explore the prize recipient's career and thought. Past winners include film and theater director Peter Brook (1992), choreographer

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

and composer John Cage (1993), artist

Bruce Nauman Bruce Nauman (born December 6, 1941) is an American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives near Galisteo, New Mexico. Life and work ...

(1994), choreographer and filmmaker

Yvonne Rainer Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental.

(1995), filmmaker

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

(1996/97), painter Gerhard Richter (1998), sculptor Louise Bourgeois (1999), artist Robert Rauschenberg (2000), architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...

(2001), choreographer William Forsythe (2002), designer

Issey Miyake was a Japanese fashion designer. He was known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances, such as '' L'eau d'Issey'', which became his best-known product. Life and career Miyake was born on 22 April 1938 in Hiroshi ...

(2004), choreographer Bill T. Jones (2005), and filmmaker Spike Lee (2008).

Artist residencies

Residencies at the Wexner Center offer support to artists and often provide opportunities for interaction with the Ohio State community and the public at large. They are an essential part of the Wex's mandate to be a creative research laboratory for all the arts. Wexner Center Residency Awards are their most substantial and high-profile residencies. They are given annually in the main program areas—performing arts, media arts (film/video), and visual arts—with some projects extending over two or more years. Other artists participating in exhibitions and performances also may receive commissions and often engage in residency activities—workshops, master classes, and discussion sessions with students or the community—during their time at the center. In addition, each year about 20 visiting filmmakers and video artists from around the world are invited to work in residence in the Film/Video Studio Program. Wexner Center Residency Award recipients include: Performing arts: * Young Jean Lee's Theater Company * The Builders Association * da da kamera *

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

* Elizabeth Streb/

Ringside Ringside may refer to: Sports *Ringside of a boxing ring *Ringside of a wrestling ring *Ringside seating (combat sports), see Ringside (boxing) Film *'' Ringside Maisie'', 1941 boxing film * ''Ringside'' (1949 film), American boxing drama film ...

* Mark Morris Dance Group *

/ SITI Company (multiple) * Improbable (multiple) * Bill T. Jones * Ann Carlson * Amanda Miller/ Pretty Ugly Dance Company * Michael Curry, G.W. Mercier,

Donald Holder Donald Holder is an American lighting designer in theatre, opera and dance based in New York. He was born in 1962. He has been nominated for fourteen Tony Awards, winning the 1998 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design as well as the Drama Desk Awar ...

, Molly Anderson (all collaborators with

) * William Forsythe, Visual arts: *

Kerry James Marshall Kerry James Marshall (born October 17, 1955) is an American artist and professor, known for his paintings of Black figures. He previously taught painting at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2017, Marshall ...

Zoe Leonard Zoe Leonard (born 1961) is an American artist who works primarily with photography and sculpture. She has exhibited widely since the late 1980s and her work has been included in a number of seminal exhibitions including Documenta IX and Document ...

Josiah McElheny Josiah McElheny (1966, Boston) is an artist and sculptor, primarily known for his work with glass blowing and assemblages of glass and mirrored glassed objects (see Glass art). He is a 2006 recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program. He liv ...

* Ann Hamilton *

Barbara Kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her collage style that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative captio ...

Lorna Simpson Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as ''Guarded Conditions'' and ''Square Deal''. Simpson is most well-known for her work in c ...

* Barbara Bloom * Alexis Smith *

* Lee Mingwei * Greg Lynn and Fabian Marcaccio * Sarah Oppenheimer *

Hussein Chalayan Hussein Chalayan, (; tr, Hüseyin Çağlayan ; born 12 August 1970) is a British-Cypriot fashion designer. He has won the British Designer of the Year twice (in 1999 and 2000) and was awarded the MBE in 2006. Chalayan is currently teaching ...

* Terry Allen * Softworlds Media arts: * Guy Maddin * Jennifer Reeder * April Martin *

Yvonne Rainer Yvonne Rainer (born November 24, 1934) is an American dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker, whose work in these disciplines is regarded as challenging and experimental.

* Jennifer Reeves *

Deborah Stratman Deborah Stratman (born 1967) is a Chicago-based artist and filmmaker who explores landscapes and systems. Her body of work spans multiple media, including public sculpture, photography, drawing and audio. Biography Stratman's work has been exhibi ...

, * Phil Collins *

Tom Kalin Tom Kalin (born 1962) is a screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee. His debut feature, ''Swoon'', is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema. In addition to h ...

* Judith Barry *

Todd Haynes Todd Haynes (; born January 2, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender ...

Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American film director, writer and producer. Dash received her MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmmakers known as the L.A. Rebellion. The L.A. Rebellion refers ...

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and distinguished professor of the arts at UC Santa Cruz. Early life Julien was born in the East End ...

, * Tacita Dean *

Miranda July Miranda July (born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger; February 15, 1974) is an American film director, screenwriter, singer, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art. She w ...

Cheryl Dunn Cheryl Dunn is an American documentary filmmaker and photographer. She has made two feature films, ''Everybody Street'' (2013) and ''Moments Like This Never Last'' (2020). She has had three books of photographs published: ''Bicycle Gangs of New Y ...

Rineke Dijkstra Rineke Dijkstra HonFRPS (born 2 June 1959) is a Dutch photographer. She lives and works in Amsterdam.Sadie Benning Sadie T. Benning (born April 11, 1973) is an American artist, who has worked primarily in video, painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and sound. Benning creates experimental films and explores a variety of themes including surveillance, ge ...

* William Wegman, * Sowon Kwon, Steven Bognar * Helen DeMichiel *

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (born 1961, Madrid, Spain) is an American Conceptual art, conceptual artist known for multidisciplinary, socially oriented sculpture, video and Installation art, installations and urban Community arts, community-based proje ...

* Tom Poole * Robert and Donald Kinney * Steve Fagin, * Daniel Minahan * Chris Marker * Paper Tiger Television.

In popular media

Portions of the

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the hono ...

-directed film ''

Little Man Tate ''Little Man Tate'' is a 1991 American drama film directed by Jodie Foster (in her directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, a seven-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-act ...

'' were shot at the Wexner Center in 1991.

Unionization Effort

On March 4, 2022, staff at the Wexner Center for the Arts announced their intent to form a union with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Organizing under the name Wex Workers United, staff cited "long-standing issues at the Wex and Ohio State, including pay equity and working culture" and said that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these problems. Wex Workers United has sought formal voluntary recognition of the union from leadership at the Ohio State University and the Wexner Center for the Arts.

Management

Operations

As of 2021, the Wexner Center had a staff of 70 and budget of $12 million.

Directors

* Jonathan Green * Robert Stearns * 1993–2019: Sherri Geldin * 2018–2021: Johanna Burton * 2021–present: Megan Cavanaugh and Kelly Stevelt, co-interim executive directors In August 2021, it was announced that Burton would be leaving Wexner in November 2021 to become executive director of MOCA Los Angeles.

References

External links

Wexner Center official website

Building Record of the Wexner Center in the John H. Herrick Archives
Includes statistics, timeline.
Finding aid for the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts project, Peter Eisenman fonds

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between rue Fort (Fort Street ...

digitized items
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wexner Center For The Arts Museums in Columbus, Ohio Arts centers in Ohio Ohio State University Buildings and structures completed in 1989 Deconstructivism National Performance Network Partners Modern art museums in the United States Art museums and galleries in Ohio Contemporary art galleries in the United States Event venues established in 1989 Art galleries established in 1989 1989 establishments in Ohio Peter Eisenman buildings and structures University District (Columbus, Ohio) Ohio State University buildings University and college arts centers in the United States Les Wexner