The Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) Curatorial Practice MFA is proud to announce Ouroboros, an exhibition on view February 2 through March 8, 2026, at the Meyerhoff Gallery. The show features eleven artists with deep connections to MICA and the city working through printmaking, photography, collage, textiles, illustration, and performance. It examines the mutual connections and enduring tensions between MICA and Baltimore—particularly in the face of systemic erasure.
Ouroboros positions MICAʼs Bicentennial as a moment of reflection, and includes an in-gallery archive that investigates the coexistence of MICA and Baltimoreʼs artistic communities over the past two centuries. The show reveals the interdependence between MICAʼs pedagogical legacy and Baltimoreʼs grassroots culture through partnerships with community resources to build the archive, a free library of historical content. Ouroboros represents an interactive process of research and collaboration that continually brings forward narratives shaping the identities of artists, the institution, and the city.
The Bicentennial celebration arrives at a crucial moment as national and local administrations adopt policies that deport international students, defund cultural institutions, and restrict the teaching of race, gender, and equity. Ouroboros responds by leveraging MICAʼs 200-year legacy to invoke acknowledgment and accountability, providing a framework for how institutional histories converge with broader social, political, and cultural contexts. The curatorial team invites viewers to consider how art education institutions might reconsider their relationships with the places they occupy, and how artists move through or work around institutions to create space for themselves.
Location: Meyerhoff Gallery (Fox Building, Floor 1 )
On View: February 2 - March 8, 2026
Reception: Thursday, February 5th, 5:00-8:00pm
Performance in BBOX by Theophobia: Thursday, February 5th, 7:00-9:00pm
Participating Artists:
Annette Smith Burgess, Rosa Chang, Lola Flash, Kei Ito, Dr. Virginia Jackson Kiah, Juan Miguel Marin, Edgar Reyes, Rafael Soldi, Theophobia, Didier Williams, Bria Sterling Wilson
Partners:
Arts Every Day, Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum, Maryland Center for History & Culture, Baltimore Basilica Corpus Christi, UMBC CHOICE Program, Decker Library
Programing:
Opening Performance with in BBOX by Theophobia
February 5th, 2026, 7:00-9:00 PM at BBOX, Gateway Building
In conjunction with the opening reception for Ouroboros—an eleven-artist exhibition and interactive archive reflecting on MICA’s Bicentennial celebration—the Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) Curatorial Practice MFA invites you to a performance by New York-based art-pop band Theophobia.
On Thursday, February 5, from 7:00–9:00PM in MICA’s BBOX theater, Gateway Building, the music and comedy performance group will offer an acoustic set of ecstatic pop, blending the shimmering new wave sounds of the 1980s with the art-infused comedy of Andy Kaufman.
Founded in 2019 by childhood friends Dylan Mars Greenberg and Matt Ellin, Theophobia is named for the pair's shared existential neuroses. Their MICA performance is free and open to the public, and will feature visual projections by Greenberg.
Kei Ito Artist Talk
Friday, February 13th, 2026, 2:00PM at Meyerhoff Gallery, Fox Building
Pete Ross Artist Talk
Thursday, February 19th, 2026, 5:00PM at Meyerhoff Gallery, Fox Building
Rosa Chang Artist Talk
Thursday, February 26th, 2026, 5:00PM at Meyerhoff Gallery, Fox Building
Edgar Reyes & Juan Miguel Marin Outdoor Projection
Friday, February 27th, 2026, 5:30PM at Corpus Christi Church (110 W Lafayette Ave, Baltimore, MD 21217)
Collection Drawing Workshop
Friday, March 6th, 2026, 3:00PM at Lillie Carrol Jackson Civil Rights Museum (1322 Eutaw Pl, Baltimore, MD 21217)
Curators
Grace Cleary, Ryn Dillon, Melissa Minseo Oh, Azul Rodriguez, Norton Reyes-Vargas
Ouroboros is made possible by The Stanley Mazaroff & Nancy Dorman Endowed Fund for Curatorial Practice and Friends of Curatorial Practice MFA.
Above image: Lola Flash, The Landing, Palmarin, Senegal (syzygy, the vision Series), 2024, Sheet metal print, 12 x 24 in
GALLERY HOURS
Meyerhoff Gallery: Monday - Sunday, 10AM - 5PM.
Campus galleries are open to the public. Outside visitors can enter galleries after signing in at the front desk of the respective building. Please note, on weekends outside visitors will need to be accompanied by a MICA community member with a MICA ID in order to swipe and gain access into respective buildings.
