Studio Museum In Harlem Unveils First Spring Lineup In New Home

HARLEM, NY — The Studio Museum in Harlem is stepping into spring with a season that feels both rooted in history and boldly forward-looking.

On the heels of reopening its new 125th Street home last November, the museum has unveiled its spring 2026 lineup.

The slate includes a new installment of its signature "F" series spotlighting emerging artists, a quilt-inspired site-specific commission and the latest chapter of its long-running teen photography program.

"Our inaugural spring season in our magnificent new home builds upon what has already been an incredible slate of exhibitions and installations," said Thelma Golden, the museum’s director and chief curator. "These presentations reinforce our commitment to showcasing works by artists of African descent from across the globe, and strengthen our dedication to a contemporary art world that foregrounds the plurality of ideas, practices, and methodologies that today’s artists are engaging with."

At the center of the season is "Fade," opening May 1.

The exhibition is the sixth in the museum’s "F" show series and will fill the fourth-floor gallery with work by 17 early-career artists of African and Afro-Latino descent from across the United States.

Working across sculpture, installation and other media, the artists embrace feeling, spirituality and non-linear conceptions of time. Through explorations of ancestry, refuge, land as archive, grief and the surreal, "Fade" positions the in-between as a space of resistance — and possibility. The show runs through Sept. 6.

Before that, on March 11, the museum will debut "BLEED," a site-specific commission by French Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga. Installed in the second-floor project gallery, the commissioned work draws on quilting traditions and the symbolism stitched into their designs.

Kiwanga’s installation features the "flying geese" motif — a triangle pattern purported to guide people north. The installation will remain on view through April 1, 2027.

In July, the museum will turn its focus to the next generation. The culminating exhibition of the 2026 cohort of Expanding the Walls: Making Connections Between Photography, History, and Community — the museum’s free photography program for high school students — will feature work by 17 teen participants.

Their photographs will be shown alongside images by James Van Der Zee, the celebrated Harlem photographer whose archive serves as a touchstone for the program. The exhibition opens July 2 and runs into summer 2027.

The museum is also planning a day-long celebration on March 21 to mark the closing of the Tom Lloyd exhibition, featuring talks, participatory activities and performances.

For families and regular visitors, Studio Sundays continue to offer free admission every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with art-making workshops, tours and storytime — though tickets are still required.

Monthly programs like Lil’ Studio for young children and Teen Studio for ages 14 to 18 round out a season that underscores the museum’s dual role: incubator for artists and anchor for the Harlem community.

Learn more here.

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