Urban Impressions: Experiencing the Global Contemporary Metropolis

See the Fall 2022 exhibition and listen to curator Frauke V. Josenhans, as well as featured artists Rick Lowe and Mary Flanagan, discuss the show.

Focusing on the overarching and shared aspects of urban life, this exhibition presents an international selection of artists whose works convey the rich sensorial phenomena of living in city spaces. From Rana Begum's vivid, outdoor, site-specific sculptural installation to Mary Flanagan's AI-centered work to Emeka Ogboh's original craft beer, Urban Impressions demonstrates multiple ways in which artists interpret the landscape, built environment, technology, and cultural elements of a contemporary metropolis. 

Featured artists also include Katsumi Hayakawa, Kahlil Irving, Lucia Koch, Julie Mehretu, Sohei Nishino, Robin Rhode, Seher Shah, Liu Wei, and Michael Wolf, as well as Houston-based artists Charis Ammon, Tiffany Chung, and Rick Lowe. Collectively, the works in the exhibition build on the longstanding artistic tradition of depicting urban life–notably by nineteenth-century Impressionists, early twentieth-century Expressionists, midcentury Situationists, and street artists of the 1980s–in ways that shape our collective perception of the city as an architectural and experiential phenomenon.