BmoreArt’s Picks: January 27 – February 2
This Week: Our Being is Being in Time at CCCC, Sweaty Eyeballs ANIMATION MIXTAPE at SNF Parkway, Rooted/Growing reception at MICA, absolute alternatives opening reception at UMBC CADVC, opening reception for Margaret Jacobs at BJC, David Page and Sara Dittrich opening reception at Red Giant, SACRAMENTS opening reception at Creative Alliance, “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” panel discussion + performance at Lewis Museum, Wide Angle Youth Media Community Day, and a conversation with Wordsmith at The Peale — PLUS apply for The Bethesda Painting Awards and more featured opportunities!
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.
To submit your calendar event, email us at events@bmoreart.com!
Tuesday, January 27 :: 6-8pm
@ Charm City Cultural Cultivation
Our Being is Being in Time is a diachronic sonic and visual journey that explores memory, self-determination, and social change. Drawing from a repeated mantra featured within the John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog exhibition, “This is time. Our being is being in time,” this gathering, curated by Xavier Walker, prompts you to ask yourself: Who are we in the space between who we are and who we are becoming?
In dialogue with archival objects sourced from local and national Black archives, experience reflective prompts, herbal elixirs, and two curated, archive-based soundscape performances by Xavier Walker and MUSE(O)FIRE that invite the audience into active participation and collective presence.
John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog is on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art through February 1, 2026. The exhibition features Akomfrah’s multi-channel film, which brings together multiple perspectives of young activists during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Through a montage of archival footage, still photography, and newly filmed materials overlaid with an immersive sound design, Akomfrah’s work constructs a conversation between past and present, foregrounding questions of memory, time, and social change.
The BMA presentation of the film is accompanied by an illustrated timeline generated by the Museum in collaboration with community partners, exploring how civil rights activism in Baltimore and Maryland has sparked national change.
ANIMATION MIXTAPE presented with Sweaty Eyeballs
Wednesday, January 28 :: 7:30pm
@ SNF Parkway
Flying cows, mysterious gods and lyrical pandemonium: Don Hertzfeldt has made Animation Mixtape just for you. The dazzling 85-minute program features exciting, animated shorts from up-and-coming filmmakers, Academy Award nominees and classic pieces that originally inspired Don to start making his own iconic work. Including a new animated introduction from Don and never before seen work from famed underground animator Bruce Bickford.
Presented in partnership with Sweaty Eyeballs and introduced by Sweaty Eyeballs director Phil Davis. The screening will be preceded by an informal Sweaty Eyeballs mixer at 7pm in the Parkway Lounge with a cash bar.
Thursday, January 29 :: 5-8pm
@ MICA Decker Gallery, Fox Building
Celebrating two centuries of creativity, the Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) Bicentennial Exhibition Rooted/Growing honors the intertwined histories of MICA and the city of Baltimore, whose relationship is defined by resilience and mutual transformation. MICA has long acted as a launchpad for creatives, providing students the support and opportunity to plant their practice. Here, the original seeds of an artist’s work are set in fertile ground, encouraged to rise and explore. EDS aims to highlight the memories, stories, and histories of all peoples that have contributed to the shared experience of the college and all of those to come.
As a city full of creatives, Baltimore is a hub for all different kinds of makers and movers, from sculpture to street art and everything in between–a beacon for students looking to develop their practice. It is no surprise that Baltimore is a garden in which artists thrive and continue to foster the arts more and more. Through exhibiting an array of selected artists, creatives, and community leaders, this exhibition has positioned itself as a vivid dialogue of the past, present, and future of MICA and the greater Baltimore community.
The exhibition encourages everyone to both reflect on MICA’s legacy and continue the conversation about what it means to learn, create, and sustain art in Baltimore, as well as craft a future guided by a precedent of innovation and ingenuity. Viewers are encouraged to consider how the future of artists relies on the Baltimore community and in turn, how the community benefits from artists, posing a conversation of how their shared ecosystem has enriched the community as a whole. Each aspect of this exhibition invites viewers to encounter these histories not as static memories, but as cross-pollinations and active collaborations across generations and communities.
Location: Decker Gallery (Fox Building, Floor 1 )
On View: January 29 – March 8, 2026
Reception: Thursday, January 29th, 5:00-8:00pm
Participating Artists:
Devin Allen, REED Bmore, Phaan Howng, Joyce J. Scott, Ernest Shaw, Bria Sterling-Wilson, Jordan Tierney, René Treviño, Wickerham & Lomax, Jen White-Johnson
Read more of this week’s picks at BmoreArt.
