The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture presents absolute alternatives, the 2026 Arts+ UMBC Faculty Exhibition, on display from January 30 to February 28. Organized by guest curator Maleke Glee, absolute alternatives presents faculty from across UMBC whose interdisciplinary research is a form of creative practice, including Jude Agboada, Fiona Bell, Kelley Bell and the Cheeky Magpie Collective, Lee Boot, Lynn Cazabon, Lisa Cella, Mayank Chugh, Cathy Cook, Arit Emmanuela Etukudo, Eva Grandoni, Tahira Chloe Mahdi, Phillip Mann, Steven McAlpine, Lisa Moren, Edgar Reyes, Julie Sayo, Sarah G. Sharp, and Airi Yoshioka.

Inspired by the boundary-pushing spirit of the Arts+ Initiative, the exhibition proposes alternatives to defining research through absolute disciplinary categories. According to Glee:

These scholar-artists meet the present moment directly with innovative tools, materials, and methods that explore, upend or resolve unsatisfactory conditions. Here, creativity means intervening, excavating, and expanding the possibilities of practice and production inside the classroom, studio, laboratory, and beyond. These projects demonstrate what can happen when research and imagination work hand in hand, highlighting individual creative curiosities as well as collaborations connecting the University, the broader Baltimore community, and global networks.

absolute alternatives brings together faculty from across the university, as well as their UMBC student, staff, and outside collaborators, with offerings from Visual Arts, Music, Biology, the Individualized Study Program, and other disciplines.

Public Programs

An Opening Reception, featuring a performance of Zosha Di Castri’s Dream Field, by flutist Lisa Cella and violinist Airi Yoshioka, will take place on Thursday, February 12 (note new date), from 6 to 8 p.m.

On Wednesday, February 4, at 12 p.m., Tahira Chloe Mahdi will present a program entitled Adjuncts, Artists, and Other Innovators Engaging Community from the In-Between Spaces.

On Saturday, February 28, at 2 p.m., conductor Philip Mann and curator Maleke Glee will be featured in Creative Convergence: A Conversation with a Conductor and Curator.

Visitor Information

Admission to the exhibition and all public programs is free. The CADVC is open Wednesday and Thursday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Parking is free during evening and weekend hours, and metered parking is available other times. Please visit here for directions and parking information.

Visitors who need any specific accommodations should contact CADVC at [email protected] or 410-455-3188 as soon as possible.

This event is supported in part by UMBC's Arts+ initiative.