Bemis Center

ON VIEW June 5–September 13, 2026! 💫 Two major exhibitions coming to Bemis Center this summer > explore more at bemiscenter.org/exhibitions ⬇️ 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙆𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙯𝙞: 𝘼𝙣 𝘼𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙐𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 is a site-responsive solo exhibition by the Kenyan-Liberian-American artist, whose experimental and multidisciplinary practice explores themes of hybridity, memory, and sustenance. Kawinzi (@mkawstudio ) creates work that draws from personal archives and broader histories of migration, land, labor, and language. Across two galleries, the exhibition unfolds as an intimate-yet-expansive exploration of cultural lineage, ecological interconnection, and the embodied practices through which individuals and communities persist and adapt. ⬇️ 𝙈𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀: 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚 brings together photographers Rachel Cox (@rayraycox ) and Rose Marie Cromwell (@rorosiemarie ) in an exhibition examining themes of tenderness, care, and motherhood. Through distinct yet overlapping visual practices, Cox and Cromwell explore the complexities of closeness—emotional, physical, and spatial—revealing vulnerabilities surrounding familial and personal relationships and public and private life. Exhibitions are curated by Rachel Adams (@radams1982 ), Bemis Center Chief Curator + Director of Programs ⬇️ Join us at the Opening Reception on Friday, June 5, 7–9 PM! ☀️ RSVP > bemiscenter.org/events Images: Miatta Kawinzi, 𝘕𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘠𝘢𝘩, 2024. Installation detail at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY. Multi-channel sound, video, and sculptural installation. Photo by Miatta Kawinzi. Rachel Cox, 𝘝, 𝘔, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘨𝘨, 2026. Silver gelatin prints. Courtesy of the artist. Rose Marie Cromwell, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘦, 2025. Archival inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist. #bemiscenter #contemporaryart #openingsoon #exhibitions

LOW END season check-in ⚡️ Get these performances on your radar, coming up at Omaha’s venue devoted to experimental music! Free admission + all ages welcome.⁣ ⁣ ⭐️ April 9: El Khat (@elkhatmusic ) Berlin-based trio blending Yemeni folk traditions with handcrafted instrumentation, found-object percussion, and avant-rock sensibilities. ⭐️ April 16: Riley Mulherkar (@rileymulherkar ) Jazz trumpeter from Brooklyn returning to the LOW END stage as a headlining artist. ⭐️ May 14: Sarah Lutkenhaus (@lutkie ) Chicago-based experimental sound artist using modular synthesis, field recordings, and vocal improvisation to build layered compositions. ⭐️ May 28 (rescheduled from February 26): Zoh Amba (@zohamba ) Songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist from Tennessee, based in New York City. ⁣ All performances begin at 8 PM! Reserve free tickets > bemiscenter.org/events

Unveiling the next season of experimental music performances @ LOW END! These six artists are hitting the stage this summer > ☀️ June 11: Celia Hollander (@ceellliiiia ) Composer, producer, and performer based in Los Angeles. ☀️ June 18: Weston Olencki (@wolencki ) Experimental sound artist and musician based in Berlin. ☀️ June 25: Pod Blotz (@suz.pol.pod.blotz ) Modern electronic and abstract techno based in Detroit, MI. ☀️ July 9: Warren Realrider (@warrealrider.sound ) Bemis’s Summer 2026 Sound Artist-in-Residence; noise performance artist based in Tulsa, OK. ☀️ August 6: Tyler Eschendal (@tyler_creschendude ) Composer, percussionist, and videographer based in Princeton, NJ. ☀️ August 20: Kara-Lis Coverdale (@k__lc ) Composer, musician, and producer based in Ontario. Admission is free; ticket reservations are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

LIVE @ LOW END later this month is songwriter + multi-instrumentalist from Kingsport, Tennessee: @zohamba 🎶 With a formidable reputation as a saxophonist and ensemble leader, Amba’s acclaimed recordings, compositions, and improvisations blend avant-garde, noise, and devotional hymns. In 2025, Amba made the striking decision to switch their musical attention to songwriting, acoustic guitar, and folk music. We’re so excited to finally welcome Amba to the LOW END stage. Don’t miss it! 🎫 Admission is free; ticket reservations are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

OPEN CALL for the 2026 Benefit Art Auction is live! 💜 Submit artwork for consideration by June 15 to be part of this celebrated annual exhibition + auction. There is no fee to submit. > Visit bemiscenter.org/benefit to learn more. 💜 ACCEPTED ARTWORK ENTITLES YOU TO: • The choice to donate between 100% and 50% of the proceeds of the sale of your work to Bemis Center. The remaining sales percentage is yours to keep! • Two complimentary tickets to the 2026 Benefit Art Auction on October 30 • One-year Bemis Center Membership at the $500 Core level • Free shipping for your donated artwork • Free framing for Benefit Art Auction Exhibition (if applicable to submission) • Bemis Alumni Status Help keep Bemis Center free + accessible for everyone, year-round! #bemisbenefit #benefitartauction #opencall #opencallforartists

Presented in the Okada Sculpture + Ceramics Facility at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Primer in Two Voices or a Threshold for Technological Advancement began as a study of sea salt and its relationship to photography. Printed through custom screens and requiring hours of labor, the work incorporates North African Adinkra symbols, including UAC Nkanea, a symbol associated with technological advancement. Since tracing his lineage to the Tuareg people of Mali in 2020, Derrick Woods-Morrow (Bemis Spring 2025 Artist-in-Residence) has searched for ways to more directly fold African visual language into his ongoing work around embodying images. Long concerned with photographic interiority — particularly Eadweard Muybridge’s Horse in Motion, often considered “the world’s first bit of cinema,” and the largely overlooked image of an unnamed Black jockey riding the galloping horse Annie G. — the resulting performance finds Woods-Morrow and fellow collaborator and master printer Shawn Bitters (@shawnbitters ) screen-printing historical symbology into material form. Strobe lights flash. Audience members walk and dance across the printed salt rug, asked to witness and be witnessed. Drones hover overhead while a mix of Fela Kuti’s “Water Get No Enemy” and recordings from Warren Buffett’s shareholder meeting plays in the background. Though documented through video by Michael Hennings (@michaelhennings ) and photography by Abiola Kosoko (@abiolakosoko ), the largely ephemeral experience resists capture even as it is recorded. In lineage with films like Nope, the work moves beyond cinematic spectacle to ask how certain people, histories, and ways of seeing remain unseen. Woods-Morrow and Bitters use printed salt to conjure an image that stays with us, transformed through contact and circulation. Resistant to being swept away, the salt stretched and shifted beneath countless feet, carrying ancient symbols into new forms. As salt does, it lingered beyond the event — on shoes, skin, and in memory — opening space to consider descendants and lineages both seen and un/seen, while drawing attention to the quiet dignity and joy of simply being human, and be

SAVE THE DATE: FRIDAY, JUNE 5 ★ 7–9 PM ☆ Be among the first to experience Bemis’s new compelling exhibitions, 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙆𝙖𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙯𝙞: 𝘼𝙣 𝘼𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙐𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 and 𝙈𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀: 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚. ★ This festive evening—with exhibiting artists in attendance—includes complimentary drinks, light bites, and music by @kobrakyle . ☆ Current Bemis Center Members may also join us for an exclusive preview and Meet + Greet with exhibiting artists directly preceding the public reception, from 6 to 7 PM. BE HERE! More info + free RSVP > bemiscenter.org/events

THIS THURSDAY: Sarah Lutkenhaus (@lutkie ) explores the vulnerabilities of the human experience through sound 🔊 Lutkenhaus was the Summer 2025 Alba Sonic Arts Artist-in-Residence at the Experimental Sound Studio (@esschicago ), a three-month program that supports an MFA graduate from SAIC’s Art + Technology / Sound Practices department. Apart from her work in sound, Lutkenhaus is also an accomplished designer and illustrator. She published 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺, a compilation that delves into the intricate web of human interactions with money, through Secret Riso Club (@secret_riso_club ). 🎫 Admission is free; ticket reservations are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

⚡ NEXT UP @ LOW END: Chicago-based experimental sound artist Sarah Lutkenhaus (@lutkie )! Lutkenhaus is an interdisciplinary artist working across sound, performance, and printed media to explore emotional complexity and the instability of language. Using modular synthesis, field recordings, samples, and vocal improvisation, she builds layered compositions that push speech to the edge of abstraction, where meaning and sense of time fracture. Her work embraces the fleeting experience of liveness, crafting emotionally charged environments that heighten the tension between control and vulnerability. Drawing on archival research and collaborative exchange, she listens for overlooked histories and cultivates community through performances, publications, and collective acts of listening. 🎫 Admission to LOW END, as always, is free; ticket reservations are encouraged > bemiscenter.org/events

THANK YOU 💜 We are immensely grateful to everyone—including every visitor—who was a part of 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘴: 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘴 + 𝘌𝘻𝘳𝘢 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘩: 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚. From artist Ezra Masch (@ezramasch ) bringing 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚 to our community here in Omaha, to Bemis Curator-in-Residence Kathy Cho (@kthych_ ) inviting us to experience the cloud like never before, these were two truly immersive exhibitions we won’t soon forget! Special thanks to the following artists, musicians, and collaborators: 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘴 exhibiting artists: > Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme (@basel.abb + @ruanne.ar ) > Zainab Aliyu (@beatsbyzai ) > Rindon Johnson (#RindonJohnson) > Lauren Lee McCarthy and Kyle McDonald (@laurenleemack + @kcimc ) > Rebeca Romero (@romero.beca ) > Tianyi Sun and Fiel Guhit (@tianyisun_ + #FielGuhit) 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘴 writers: > Eileen Isagon Skyers (@eileenonline_ ) > Frederike Sperling (@frederikesperling ) > Jacinda Tran (#JacindaTran) 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚 performers: > George Burton (@daporge ) > Mark Guiliana (@markguiliana ) > Dana Murray (@danamurraymusic ) > Phill Smith (@_phill_smith_ ) > Kendall Wooden (@kwoodenmusic ) OMA ARTalks speakers: > Stacey Barelos (@sbarelos ) > Gretchen Larsen (@gretiegirl ) > Alex Myers (#AlexMyers) Supporters: > AOI (@aoicorp ) > Douglas County Visitor Improvement Fund > Humanities Nebraska (@humanitiesne ) > Nebraska Arts Council (@neartscouncil ) > Nebraska Cultural Endowment (@nebraskaculture ) 📸: @bensemisch

Saturday's finale 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚 performance ended this exhibition on the perfect note. ⚡ @ezramasch @markguiliana 📸: @bensemisch

🔊 Tomorrow is your LAST CHANCE to see 𝘌𝘻𝘳𝘢 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘩: 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚 activated live at Bemis Center! Superstar drummer @markguiliana joins us for the final performance. 🔊 Experience the immersive audio-visual performance that uses technology to visualize the relationship between live sound, light, and architecture. Through collaborations with musicians, artist @ezramasch expands the possibilities of performance by making sound visible and space audible in his site-specific sculptures. Each iteration of 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚 is unique, shaped by the interplay of musician, instrument, and environment. ⚡ Admission is free; RSVPs highly encouraged! > bemiscenter.org/events 📹: 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘌𝘚 Performance with @_phill_smith_ in March by thinkMOTION