Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts

Opening Reception Events:
Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts saw a grand opening weekend with a special reception held at each exhibiting venue. Beginning on Friday, July 11, from 5-7pm at the Poeh Cultural Center & Museum, exhibiting artist Tania Willard’s installation and graphic score, Surrounded/Surrounding, was activated in a communal gathering featuring dancer Than Povi Martinez and a string-based sound artist. Albuquerque’s opening reception occured on Saturday, July 12, from 6-8pm at 516 ARTS.

516 ARTS in Albuquerque, NM and the Poeh Cultural Center & Museum in Pojoaque, NM are proud to collaborate in presenting the touring exhibition, Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts. The exhibition and its public programs were presented at the two sites, uniquely bridging two vital regions in the state of New Mexico. The exhibition was on view at both venues from July 11 through October 4, 2025, which each hosting their own opening reception event.

There was a Member Preview of the exhibit from 5-6pm. This included a special invocation of Greg Staats’ piece, “Do’-gah – I don’t know [shrugging soldiers” ‘ by the exhibitions host facilitator by 516 ARTS’ Curator, Olivia Amaya Ortiz.⁠ Not a member? Join here.

Curated by Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson, Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts featured newly commissioned scores, performances, videos, sculptures and sound by Indigenous and other artists who responded to this question. As it unfolded in a sequence of five parts, the scores took the form of beadwork, videos, objects, graphic notation, historical belongings, and written instructions. During the exhibition, these scores were activated at specific moments by musicians, dancers, performers and members of the public gradually filling the gallery and surrounding public spaces with sound and action.

The exhibition was cumulative, limning an ever-changing community of artworks, shared experience and engagement as it travels. Soundings shifted and evolved, gaining new artists and players in each location. Some artworks have multiple parts, others change to their own rhythm as the exhibition grows. At the core of the exhibition was a grounding in concepts of Indigenous land and territory. To move beyond the mere acknowledgement of land and territory here means offering instructions for sensing and listening to Indigenous histories that trouble the colonial imaginary. Soundings activated and asserted Indigenous resurgence through the actions these artworks called forth.

Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts is a traveling exhibition curated by Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson, and organized by Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Canada and Independent Curators International (ICI). The exhibition and tour are made possible, in part, with the generous support from ICI’s International Forum and the ICI Board of Trustees. Additional support has been provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program, the Isabel and Alfred Bader Fund of Bader Philanthropies, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Kingston Arts Fund through the Kingston Arts Council, and the George Taylor Richardson Memorial Fund at Queen’s University.

The presentation at 516 ARTS has been organized in collaboration with Olivia Amaya Ortiz. Additional funding provided by The Chicago Woodman Foundation, Ford Foundation, New Mexico Arts, The FUNd at Albuquerque Community Foundation, The City of Albuquerque, New Mexico Rail Runner Express, Frame City, and Bookworks. Special thanks to our partners and collaborators: Albuquerque Public Schools, APS Fine Arts, Lew Wallace Elementary, Amy Biehl High School, Don Mickey Designs, the Rail Runner, and Frame City.

This exhibition is presented by

Image credits: 1. Greg Staats, Do’-gah – I don’t know [shrugging shoulders], 2020 (detail). 2. Raven Chacon and Cristóbal Martínez, A Song Often Played on the Radio, 2018, digital video