Exhibitions, Performances & Conversations
Our public exhibitions are closed October 15th due to installation. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that you visit us tomorrow. Thank you.
The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design provides a year-round forum for the exhibition of work by students and visiting artists. In addition, graduating seniors and graduate students have the opportunity to exhibit the culmination of their Corcoran School studies in a thesis exhibition titled NEXT at the end of the academic school year. Most of these events and exhibits are open to the public.
Stay in touch! Sign up for email announcements a few times a year so you are first in line for our openings. If you are a GW student, you can sign up for our twice a month emails to get invited to all events and openings.
CURRENT AND UPCOMING EVENTS
SUMMER 2019
In Fashion: Selections from the GW Collection
Aug. 8 – Oct. 27, 2019,
Tuesday – Sunday
1 – 5 p.m.
Organized as a companion to the exhibit, Fast Fashion/Slow Art, this exhibition features works of drawing, sculpture and numerous photographs from the GW Collection. A number of the photographs on view are portraits of well-known designers, models or individuals in fashion. A number of the photographs on view are portraits of well-known designers, models or other people in fashion. They counter the glamorous side of the fashion industry. Works by May Wilson and Jody Mussoff give the impression of constriction and anxiety, while photographs by Steven Livick draw attention to the slim line between models and their inanimate foil: mannequins.
Also on view will be three works from the Estate of Dr. Luther W. Brady, Jr.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
The Galleries off of the Atrium (Gallery Six)
Washington, DC 20006
6.13.89: The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition
Exhibition open to the public from June 13 to Oct. 6, 2019,
Tuesday – Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Weekends
1 – 6 p.m.
Opening night party, June 13, 2019
6 – 8 p.m. in the Flagg Atrium
6.13.89: The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition will explore the highly politicized and publicized cancellation of the 1989 exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment. On June 13, 1989, the Corcoran Gallery of Art bowed to significant political pressure and canceled the retrospective less than three weeks before it was scheduled to open to the public.
Photo credit: Protest of the cancellation of Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, June 30, 1989, Washington, DC. © Frank Herrera
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Atrium Galleries
Washington, DC 20006
A TIME FOR ACTION: Washington Artists circa 1989
Exhibition open to the public from June 13 to Oct. 5, 2019
Tuesday – Saturday
1 – 5 p.m.
This companion exhibition to the Corcoran exhibition 6.13.89 will exhibit paintings, drawings, and prints from the GW Collection by artists who registered their protest of the volatile cancellation of the exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. Also included are selected reminiscences of artists who were in Washington, D.C. at the time experiencing the upheaval as it occurred. Artists include Clark V. Fox, Andrew Hudson, Eric Rudd, Ann Purcell, and William Newman.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Luther W. Brady Art Gallery
Washington, DC 20006
Kelli Rae Adams: work / study
Exhibition open to the public from June 13 to Oct. 6, 2019
Tuesday – Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Weekends
1 – 6 p.m.
With this mixed-media installation, Kelli Rae Adams calls attention to the magnitude and urgency of the student debt crisis in the U.S. Utilizing several hundred handmade ceramic bowls, a quantity of steadily accumulating coins and a wall-hanging triptych composed of dollar bills, Adams renders legible the physical volume of this collective burden while also shining light on the insidious practical and psychological implications of educational debt.
Image info: Forever in Your Debt, 2019 (photo credit: Kelli Rae Adams)
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Rotunda
Washington, DC 20006
Fast Fashion/
Slow Art
Thu, August 8, 2019 to Sun, December 15, 2019
Exhibition open to the public Tuesday – Sunday 1 – 5 p.m.
Students will be providing tours of Fast Fashion (meet in the gallery space) many Saturdays, starting at 1 p.m., on these dates.
No RSVPs necessary; please just show up and enjoy! Tours are on Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26, Nov. 2, 9, 16, 23, Dec. 7, 14
Fast Fashion/Slow Art comprises 11 films, videos and video installations by a diverse group of emerging and established contemporary artists and filmmakers that, collectively, encourage scrutiny of today’s garment industry.
Photo: Wang Bing, 15 Hours, 2017, 16:9 film, colour, sound - in two parts (7 hours, 55 minutes each), Edition of 6 + 2 AP. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
The Galleries off of the Atrium
Washington, DC 20006
FALL 2019
FROM THE MARGINS
Monday, Sept. 16 – Friday, Nov. 15, 2019
Gallery Hours:
Monday – Friday
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 20, 6 – 8 p.m. – Join us for the opening night reception. Light refreshments will be served. The gallery is ADA accessible; the event is free and open to the public; all are welcome to attend. To RSVP click here.
2019 marks thirty years since the cancellation of The Perfect Moment: Photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. And in this new perfect moment, this appealing anniversary wrapped neatly in black and white, it is easy to draw a line directly from the present back to one point in the past. However, when time is compressed as such, what happens to the in-between? From the Margins aims to examine the foreclosure presented by Mapplethorpe’s legacy by pivoting towards Glenn Ligon’s response to Mapplethorpe. In this way, Ligon’s Notes On the Margins of the Black Book serves as a guide to generating critique.
In addition to the sixteen artists on view, From the Margins includes a resource library and a fully illustrated catalog with over ten contributors.
Smith Hall of Art
801 21st Street
Gallery 102
Washington, DC 20052
“Spectacular holes in clouds, spotted”: Visiting Artist and Scholars Committee Lecture by Lisa Blas
Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019
6:30 p.m.
The Visiting Artists and Scholars Committee (VASC) will be hosting its first lecture by Lisa Blas, an American visual artist of Guamanian-Italian origin based in New York. Working in painting, photography and installation, she creates constellations that speak to recurrent environmental catastrophe and civil unrest — where the afterlife of images occupies the space of everyday life. Blas constructs her palette with transparent and reflective colors grounded in the light of Southern California, the region of her childhood and formation as an artist.
Smith Hall of Art
Room 114
801 21st Street
Washington, DC 20052
GW/AU Graduate Art History Symposium
Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019
9:30 a.m. – 3:45 p.m
Join the Corcoran Art History Program and American University's Art History Program for the annual GW/AU Graduate Art History Symposium. Join in and listen for a day long symposium that covers topics including St. Catherine of Alexandria, Winslow Homer, Alfred Stieglitz, Roger Shimomura, and more.
The event is free and open to the public, no RSVP necessary
Smith Hall of Art
801 21st Street
Room 114
Washington, DC 20052
Mapplethorpe Panel Discussion
Sunday, Oct. 6, 2019
3 – 5 p.m.
On June 13, 1989, the Corcoran Gallery of Art bowed to significant political pressure and canceled Robert Mapplethorpe's retrospective less than three weeks before it was scheduled to open to the public. Now, thirty years later, this discussion with arts and cultural leaders will explore arts and censorship in the United States. Join us to reflect on the effects of this show’s closing on the museum community, the Corcoran and federal funding of the arts.
Part of 6.13.89: The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition. Speakers to be announced.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
intimate systems
Friday, Oct. 11 – Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019
Reception: Oct. 11,
6 – 9 p.m.
An MFA exhibition featuring the works of Mina Nasr, Jamille Wallick, Lianna Zaragoza & Kamille Jackson.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
West Gallery
Washington, DC 20006
[email protected]: SOLO DANCES in the ROTUNDA
Friday, Oct. 11, 2019
7 – 8 p.m.
Seven of GW’s finest dancers perform original dance solos in the round created for the beautiful Rotunda in the Flagg Building!
Free admission
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Rotunda
Washington, DC 20006
Exhibition Design Fall 2019 Lecture: EXHIBITIONS AT HOME
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019
6:30 – 8 p.m.
The history of exhibiting art has a long-standing relationship with domestic space from upscale salons to the apartment gallery, where one was accustomed to discerning between art and everyday objects, moldings and reliefs, and in rooms of various sizes, lighting conditions and decorative styles. This relationship commingled the informal with the formal, the personal with the public, the intimate with the spectacular — creating an interwoven relationship between audience and home, art and the private interior.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
STOP KISS
By Diana Son
Directed by
Matthew R. Wilson
Oct. 17, 18, 19
at 7:30 p.m.;
Oct. 20 at 2 p.m.
West Village. 1998. Sara and Callie form a rapid, unexpected bond. But, when their first awkward kiss is met with a violent attack, they and those around them are united in ways they could never imagine and can never undo. A modern tale of cosmopolitan ambiguity, of belonging and erasure, and of love how you least expect it, Diane Son's Stop Kiss is an unabashed look at struggles of queer identity and longings for connection.
Stop Kiss shines a light on themes of assault and homophobia.
Students/Seniors $10
General Admission $20
Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre
800 21st St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
Artist Talk w/ Peter Clough
Friday, Oct. 18, 2019
5 – 6 p.m.
Join Gallery 102 and NYC-based artist Peter Clough for a talk about their visual and performance based work. The talk is free and open to the public. The Gallery is ADA accessible.
Gallery 102
Smith Hall of Art
801 21st Street
Washington, DC 20052
CORCORAN COSTUME BALL
Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019
8 – 11 p.m.
Current students, faculty and alumni of the Corcoran College and GW are invited to our biggest event of the fall: a costume ball in the Atrium of the Flagg Building! The event will feature a DJ, student performances, photo booth, and a dessert bar. The event is free. Admission by costume only. Costumes can be fancy dress or Halloween-style—you pick!
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Atrium Galleries
Washington, DC 20006
Dedication Ceremony for IMPRINTING STATES of BEING: A Mural by Joerael Numina
Oct. 19, 2019
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
To celebrate and bless "Imprinting States of Being: A Mural by Joerael Numina," honoring the Piscataway people and the indigenous history of Washington, D.C., GW's Corcoran School of the Arts and Design would like to invite you to attend a free dedication ceremony on October 19th. The event will begin with a Piscataway traditional blessing, drumming by the Uptown Boyz, historical presentation by Gabrielle Tayac and ending with Joerael Numina discusses the imagery of the mural. After the speaking portion concludes, guests will be invited to go view the mural on the ground floor.
A light lunch and refreshments will be provided at this event.
You can read more about this mural here.
Photo by Tyara Estrada.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
2nd Floor (the Bridge)
Washington, DC 20006
15th Annual Transformer Silent Auction & Benefit Party
Oct. 26, 2019
8 p.m. – Midnight
This year, the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design will host the 15th Annual Transformer Silent Auction & Benefit Party, an event that showcases some of D.C.’s best contemporary visual art (including more than a few exhibits from Corcoran alumni). This “not to be missed” art event provides essential support for Transformer’s comprehensive year-round exhibitions and educational programming.
Image courtesy of Transformer 2018, photos by Nick Klein.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Atrium Galleries
Washington, DC 20006
Artist Panel Talk: John Paradiso, Shen Wei, Matt Storm
Monday, Oct. 28, 2019
4 – 5 p.m.
Join Gallery 102 and artists Shen Wei, John Paradiso, and Matt Storm for a panel discussion around topics of censorship, photography, intimacy, and care. The panel talk is free and open to the public. The gallery is ADA accessible.
Gallery 102
Smith Hall of Art
801 21st Street
Washington, DC 20052
WAKING THE ORACLE
Directed by William Wilson Corcoran Visiting Professor Molly Jane Udaya Sturges
Thursday – Saturday, Oct. 31 – Nov. 2, 2019
7:30 p.m.;
Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019
2 p.m.
A new mythical musical meditation for our planet
love.serve.protect.heal
the sacred in ourselves, each other and on the planet
Building XX
814 20th Street NW
2nd Floor (Black Box Theatre)
Washington, DC 20052
Facilitating Choreographic Process with Guest Artist/Scholar Dr. Larry Lavender
Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019
9:30 – 10:50 a.m.
Dr. Lavender will conduct a movement session in dance composition and choreography practices sponsored by DANCE ICONS, Inc. Washington, DC.
Larry Lavender is an American dancer and dance scholar. He is the author of the book Dancers Talking Dance: Critical Evaluation in the Choreography Class. His research focuses on dance criticism, performance art, dance theory and choreography.
Building J Dance Studio
2131 G Street NW (rear)
Washington, DC 20052
VOTE on NEXT 2020 logos
Friday, Nov. 1, 2019
2 – 4 p.m.
The NEXT DesignLab students (a group of graphic design students, led by Professor Matt Guastaferro) will present their final designs for NEXT 2020 in the Hammer Auditorium. All Corcoran students, faculty and staff are invited –graduating students are especially encouraged to attend!
After the presentation and questions, attendees will vote on the final design.
Don't miss this event to weigh-in on the NEXT 2020 brand!
Flagg Building
500 17th Street NW
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
Publishing Panel Talk: Be Oakley, Camilo Godoy, Adriana Monsalve
Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019
5 – 6:30 p.m.
Join Gallery 102 and artists/publishers Be Oakley (GenderFail), Camilo Godoy, and Adriana Monsalve (Homie House Press) for a panel talk on publishing as community-building and publishing as care. The panel discussion is free and open to the public. The gallery is ADA accessible.
Gallery 102
Smith Hall of Art
801 21st Street
Washington, DC 20052
12th ANNUAL INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE LECTURE Featuring Clive Wilkinson
Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019
6:30 – 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)
GW’s Interior Architecture Program presents the 12th Annual Interior Architecture Lecture, with distinguished South African-born Los Angeles-based architect and interior designer Clive Wilkinson.
Clive Wilkinson is an acknowledged pioneer in workplace design. His award winning practice has spearheaded the workplace revolution and has created trail blazing spaces for companies including Google, Microsoft and the Disney Store. He is a recipient of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt Design award and an inductee into Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame.
A reception and signing of his new book, The Theatre of Work, will follow the lecture.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
Artist Talk w/ Benjamin Fredrickson
Monday, Nov. 11, 2019
4 – 5 p.m.
Join Gallery 102 and NYC-based artist Benjamin Fredrickson for an artist talk about the photographer's work. The talk will touch upon notions of portraiture, photographing the body, intimacy, pleasure, and care. The talk is free and open to the public. The gallery is ADA accessible.
Gallery 102
Smith Hall of Art
801 21st Street
Washington, DC 20052
EQUITY–CENTERED DESIGN WORKSHOP
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019
1 – 5 p.m. (Reception to follow)
GWU's Interaction Design Program (IxD) in the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design is proud to welcome Antionette Carroll and Hilary Sedovic from Creative Reaction Lab to facilitate a workshop based in their award-winning framework, Equity-Centered Community Design. GW students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community are all invited to apply.
APPLICATIONS ARE REQUIRED DUE TO LIMITED CAPACITY. Apply HERE by Oct 15, 2019.
https://forms.gle/nZWDxW1cPcspC9of6
*Attendees will be emailed the room number closer to the event.
What are the roles of equity, history, and power in design? How might we design more equitable communities and systems? In this interactive introductory workshop, participants will learn about and apply award-winning Equity-Centered Community Design strategies to examine how their own identities shape design and decision-making in collaborative processes, explore and practice inviting diverse co-creators to the table, and begin to develop the foundation for becoming an equity designer and design ally.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Washington, DC 20006
INTER | SECTIONALITY: Diaspora in the Creole City
Nov. 14, 2019 – March 20, 2020
Tuesday – Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Weekends 1 – 6 p.m.
Opening reception: Nov. 14, 6 – 9 p.m. Free and open to the public, with light drink and fare. The evening’s MC, Miami journalist and blogger Kalyn James, will greet the crowd and introduce a special performance by Aisha Tandiwe Bell.
Inter | Sectionality: Diaspora Art in the Creole City will be presented in our nation’s capital at a time when diaspora artists and voices are challenging social justice, celebrating identities, and reactivating and bridging communities through contemporary art and scholarship. The complexities and diversities represented by this exhibit are emergent and, in many cases, ascendant across the world.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Atrium Galleries
Washington, DC 20006
The exhibition is free and on view Nov. 14, 2019 – Mar. 20, 2020;
Tuesday – Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
and weekends from
1 – 6 p.m.
DANCE CONCERT FALL 2019
Nov. 14, 15, 16, 2019
at 7:30 p.m.
Artistic Director
Maida Withers
Guest Artist
Ann Carlson
Faculty Choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess
Student Choreographers
Quinn Gagos, Berkley Lane, Arielle Ostry, Claire Siwulec, Jamille Wallick
Student dancers from the Program of Theatre & Dance take the stage in this audience favorite! Guest Artist, Ann Carlson, is an internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer and performance artist whose work explores contemporary social issues. Faculty Choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess was named the Smithsonian's first-ever choreographer in residence at the National Portrait Gallery.
Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre
800 21st St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
CORCORAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
Thursday – Saturday, Nov. 14 – 23, 2019
Master Class with counter)induction
Friday, Nov. 15, 2019
Phillips Hall
801 22nd St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
No RSVP necessary
counter)induction: Futures Past
counter)induction contemplates the simultaneity of the historical and the contemporary in a concert of music emphatically modern yet profoundly connected to the past.
Friday, Nov. 15, 2019
Flagg Building
500 17th St., NW
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
Opera Lafayette: John Blow's Venus and Adonis
Nov. 21, 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Opera Lafayette — the nation’s only American period instrument opera company which performs its entire season in Washington, DC and New York City.
Flagg Building
500 17th St., NW
Atrium Bridge
Washington, DC 20006
GW BANDS: New Beginnings
Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019
1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Join the GW Bands for their fall concert, featuring the debut of GW’s new band director, Michael Schmitz. The repertoire for this concert draws from the traditional English rhyme “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” which details what a bride should wear on the day of her wedding, a new beginning in life. Inspired by the rhyme, the concert will include traditional wind band music, contemporary works, transcriptions of works originally written for other ensembles and blues-inspired works.
Lisner Auditorium
730 21st St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
Ticket link tba
GW Orchestra and University Singers FALL CONCERT
Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019
6 – 8 p.m.
Join the GW Orchestra and the GW University Singers for a joint concert. Additional information will be posted at corcoran.gwu.edu/mainstage closer to the event date.
Lisner Auditorium
730 21st St., NW
Washington, DC 20052
Ticket link tba
SPRING 2020
Six Characters in Search of an Author
By Luigi Pirandello
Directed by Jodi Kanter
Feb. 13, 14, 15
at 7:30 p.m.;
Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.
During a theatrical rehearsal, six characters arrive on stage in a quest for immortal life- all they need is an author. As the company observes the characters, their story becomes more real than any actors could ever make it. Nobel Prize winner Luigi Pirandello’s examination of pretense and theatre is under the direction of Jodi Kanter.
This play includes mature subjects such as incest and suicide.
Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre
800 21st St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
Ticket link tba
Exhibition Design Spring 2020 Lecture: PROBABLE CAUSE
Thursday, March 26, 2020
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Lately, SPORTS Collaborative has been preoccupied with the elasticity of the built environment. How can the world of objects and spaces alternate between the functional and ordinary on one hand and the playful and poetic on the other? In this talk, SPORTS will discuss their ambition to flexibly flicker between these states in their work and in doing so, embrace ideas of ambiguity, novelty and discovery.
SPORTS Collaborative s the award-winning multidisciplinary architecture and design collaborative of Molly Hunker and Greg Corso, based in Syracuse, New York.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
HEATHERS The Musical
Music, Book & Lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe & Kevin Murphy
Directed by Tom Jones
April 2, 3, 4
at 7:30 p.m.;
April 5 at 2 p.m.
There are three of them, and the three Heathers rule Westerburg! Veronica is torn—to be popular or to, well, do what? Luckily, J.D. arrives with answers; but this Prince Charming has a deep, dark side. Based on the cult-hit movie, this Off-Broadway Musical is a co-production with the Program of Music. High School-- it’s not for kids anymore! Be advised: as Heathers is set in a high school, it has strong language, bullying, body image, school violence, suicidal ideation, and Slurpee’s.
Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre
800 21st St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
Ticket link tba
NEXT DANCE CONCERT SPRING 2020
Artistic Director Maida Withers
Guest Artist TBA
April 16, 17, 18
at 7:30 p.m.
Featuring internationally acclaimed guest artists and faculty as well as student choreographers.
Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre
800 21st St. NW
Washington, DC 20052
Ticket link tba
NEXT 180
Thursday, April 23, 2020
5 – 6 p.m.
Before the festivities begin at 6 pm for the NEXT opening night party, join your classmates for NEXT 180! NEXT 180 features a series of rapid-fire creative presentations from graduating students across the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. Each student has three minutes and nine slides (which automatically advance every 20 seconds) to enlighten, inspire and entertain. These can be dance performances or talks about any topic.
There will be voting and prizes. The event will be first-come, first-seated, with no RSVP necessary, so come early to cheer them on. Doors open at 4:45 p.m.
To apply to present at NEXT 180, stay tuned for emails.
Flagg Building
500 17th St., NW
Hammer Auditorium
Washington, DC 20006
NEXT Exhibition and Opening Night
Opening night party Thursday, April 23, 2020
6 – 8 p.m.
Open April 24 – May 18, 2020, Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Weekends 1 – 6 p.m.
Held every spring, NEXT is a dynamic, interactive and innovative end-of-year show that gives D.C.'s visual and performing arts communities the opportunity to see the latest in contemporary art from fresh perspectives.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Atrium Galleries
Washington, DC 20006
CORCORAN Graduation Party (2020)
Friday, May 15, 2020
5 – 7 p.m.
Graduating students will take the first step of their lifelong journey as GW Corcoran alumni by celebrating with their friends, family, professors and fellow students. Come raise a glass to the class of 2020!
The event will have light appetizers and refreshments.
Flagg Building
500 17th Street
Atrium
Washington, DC 20006
HOLIDAY SCHEDULE 2019-20
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Thursday, July 4, 2019 - Independence Day |
