The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art."

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 Ohio State University students and scholars for study, and is open to the public. The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner, who was a major donor to the center.

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. Peter Eisenman won the design competition for the Wexner in 1983 over four other, more experienced finalists: Cesar Pelli; Michael Graves; Kallmann McKinnell & Wood; and Arthur Erickson. (Each was paired with a local architect.)

Architecture

thumb|upright=1.2|right|Sidewalk in the Wexner Center

The Wexner Center's , three-story building

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, to give the building a sense of incompleteness in tune with the architect's deconstructivist 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. a film and video post production studio, a bookstore, café, and 12,000 square feet (1,100 m<sup>2</sup>) of galleries. The galleries are placed linearly in the building space to emphasize progression.

In 1993, the Wexner Center installed Maya Lin'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' 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

thumb|upright=1.2|A work by [[Cindy Sherman displayed in the Wexner Center (right)]]

Notable exhibitions include: Chris Marker: Silent Movie, Julie Taymor: Playing With Fire, Shirin Neshat: 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. In 2018, the Wexner showcased the works of 16 artists working in contemporary abstraction, including Eric N. Mack, Sam Gilliam and Zachary Armstrong.

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

The Box, the Wexner Center's dedicated to video and short film work opened in September 2005 and typically offers a new piece every month.

In 2022, admission to the Wexner Center for the Arts's galleries became free for all audiences.

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; 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 sought, but were not granted, formal voluntary recognition of the union from leadership at the Ohio State University and the Wexner Center for the Arts. On March 22, 2023, the union was ratified by unanimous vote.

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
  • 2021–2022: Megan Cavanaugh and Kelly Stevelt, co-interim executive directors
  • 2022–2025: Gaëtane Verna

References

  • 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 (digitized items)