Fall 2013 Season Announced

Coming this fall to the Wexner Center for the Arts: Blues for Smoke, an exhibition that will fill the center’s galleries; a performance of WE'RE GONNA DIE by Young Jean Lee, whose theater company is the recipient of a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award; and the world premiere of the Quay Brothers’ newest work, Mistaken Hands, also supported by a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award. Tickets go on sale August 1 to Wexner Center members and August 12 to the general public at tickets.wexarts.org. More on the upcoming season highlights:

• From September 21–December 29, on view at the center will be Blues for Smoke, a major exhibition that explores a wide range of contemporary art through the lens of the blues and “blues aesthetics,” and that asserts that the blues have been a guiding force not only in music, but in literature, film, and visual arts. Performing arts events programmed in conjunction with Blues for Smoke include:
  • The Star-Faced One, a double-bill tribute to Afro-Futurist jazz force Sun Ra, featuring Birmingham, Alabama-based Lonnie Hollie and Columbus electronic composer Brian Harnetty; 
  • A performance on October 25 by Terakaft, purveyors of “desert blues,” the hypnotic, trance-inducing, guitar-led music developed in Mali and the nomadic Sahara desert Tuareg culture; and
  • The Byron Stripling Quartet featuring Bobby Floyd on November 22, with two sets led by jazz trumpeter Byron Stripling, artistic director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra.

• Out of Time, by Irish step dance prodigy Colin Dunne, a former lead performer for the international dance phenomenon Riverdance. Dunne’s multimedia solo show combines choreography, spoken commentary and video to trace his evolution as a dancer. This performance will be held at the Capitol Theatre at the Riffe Center on September 27.
• Nature Theatre of Oklahoma’s Life and Times: Episode 1, on October 4 and 5 at the Lincoln Theatre. The first installment in a projected ten-episode cycle by the New York City-based theater ensemble (a Wex favorite), Episode 1 traces the life story of one of its company members up to age eight.
• The Obie Award-winning performance WE'RE GONNA DIE by provocative playwright Young Jean Lee and her indie rock band Future Wife, on October 11–12. The life-affirming show is about the thing everyone has in common: We’re gonna die. Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company, the recipient of the Wexner Center Artist Residency Award in performing arts this season, returns in early April for the final development work and premiere of STRAIGHT WHITE MEN.
• Elevator Repair Service’s Arguendo, which draws out key issues of free speech, censorship and the find distinctions in the definition of art. On stage November 14–17, the piece was co-commissioned by the Wexner Center and will feature post-performance discussions between the ERS artistic director and legal experts.
• The Hitchcock 9, a touring series that presents all nine of Alfred Hitchcock’s surviving silent films, presented in a restoration undertaken by the British Film Institute. The series runs October 10–25 and features Blackmail, widely considered to be one of the best British films of the late 1920s, and The Lodger, described by Hitch himself as “the first true Hitchcock movie.” The series also includes Downhill, The Ring, The Manxman, The Farmer’s Wife, Champagne, The Pleasure Garden, and Easy Virtue; many of the screenings include live musical accompaniment.
• The world premiere of the Quay Brothers’ newest work, Mistaken Hands, supported by a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award. In addition to screening their new work on Saturday, November 2, Stephen and Timothy Quay will be at the center on Thursday, October 31 to introduce the Pre-Code horror movie Freaks.
• A Glimcher Lecture by prestigious American architect Steven Holl, whose award-winning work includes the Bloch Addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and major buildings for the University of Iowa and MIT.
• Zoom!, the international film festival for families. Held December 5–8, this year Zoom! celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St.