This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Atlanta crossed a Rubicon in 2024, or perhaps it went through a looking glass. In any case, 2024 marked the year that the global art world turned its attention to Atlanta in an unprecedented way.
Atlanta Art Fair in October was the city’s first truly international, large-scale commercial art fair, which put the city in the same circuit as fairs such as New York City’s Art on Paper and Expo Chicago. And several Atlanta-based art initiatives took advantage of the city’s heightened global spotlight with exceptional shows and programs, many as part of Atlanta Art Week.
The Casspir Project, shown first at Atlanta Contemporary and later at the Emma Darnell Aviation Museum & Conference Center, immediately comes to mind. So, too, does “If You Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future,” an exhibition of a wide variety of contemporary South African works exhibited at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Robert W. Woodruff Library
Credit: Photo courtesy of Robert W. Woodruff Library
Outside of Art Week, the reopening of a newly expanded ABV Gallery, the CDC’s sweeping survey of art in the COVID-19 era, the launch of the 12,500-square-foot multi-arts space the Supermarket and Sheila Pree Bright’s sprawling photography exhibition at Emory University’s Schatten Gallery were all equally grand gestures. So, too, were Rachel Parish and Sarah Cameron Sunde’s voyage down the South River, Charmaine Minniefield’s relocation of an entire house and Miya Bailey’s solo gambit taking over three spaces in Castleberry Hill. And “Giants” at the High Museum announced its scope right in the name of the exhibition.
“Ambition” was therefore the watchword of the year. Many efforts in art and design seemed to be as much a celebration of audacity and scale as of aesthetic prowess and intellectual heft. In 2024 in Atlanta, bigger was in fact better. Or at least going big — physically and intellectually — seemed like a good way to make an impression.
In that vein, here are nine big highlights from the year.
Off the Wall @ 725 Ponce, the Atlanta Beltline, throughout the year
The largest movie screen in the South is right on the Beltline and is in fact the side of the building at 725 Ponce de Leon. An ongoing program of experimental films engages and challenges audiences several times a year. Filmmaker-artists have included Cauleen Smith, Micah and Whitney Stansell, Gibson+Recoder and ArtsATL writer Deanna Sirlin.
Credit: Photo by Tarun Khiwal
Credit: Photo by Tarun Khiwal
“Manish Arora: Life Is Beautiful,” SCAD Fash, March
Manish Arora’s Indo-futurist fashion is an explosion of color, pattern and dazzling craftsmanship. Arora’s deep well of cultural knowledge combined with haute couture ambitions resulted in this exuberant, over-the-top celebration of fashion.
“Truth Told Slant: Contemporary Photography,” High Museum of Art, March
The museum’s exploration of a new type of documentary photography featured some of the best practitioners of the genre: Rose Marie Cromwell, Tommy Kha and Atlantan Jill Frank. Collectively, the artists explored photography’s slippery connection to truth and reality.
Credit: Photo by Mike Jensen
Credit: Photo by Mike Jensen
Public opening of the Warehouse, the Warehouse, April
After 30 years, John Wieland, founder and chair of John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, opened his Westside private collection as a public museum. More than 400 contemporary works by artists including Radcliffe Bailey, Alec Soth, Do Ho Suh, Gregory Crewdson and Carrie Mae Weems — all tightly curated around the theme of houses and homes — finally became viewable to a larger public.
“Ming Smith: Feeling the Future,” Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, August
One of the great underappreciated experimental photographers of our age, Ming Smith used the camera to document not just Black cultural life but also the psychedelic head space of jazz and Afro-futurism. Curator Karen Comer Lowe’s exhibition not only displayed but ably contextualized five decades of creative courage.
Credit: Photo by by Mike Jensen
Credit: Photo by by Mike Jensen
Namwon Choi’s “248 Miles,” Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, August
Choi’s critically acclaimed solo exhibition explored movement and travel from the crossed perspectives of South Korea and the American South. Choi was raised and educated in Korea and relocated to Atlanta in 2002. “248 Miles” captured her travels not only around the state but, on a deeper level, her travels around the world.
“Characters: Type in Action,” Museum of Design Atlanta, September
The typography design work of Tré Seals took center stage in this tightly curated exhibition. Seals’ Vocal Type studio drew from inspirations as diverse as Bayard Rustin, Jimi Hendrix and Harriet Tubman to explore how typography could embody revolutionary zeal. MODA’s show demonstrated the best in contextualizing design within the larger scope of life and history.
Credit: Photo by James Ly
Credit: Photo by James Ly
“Site,” Goat Farm Arts Center, October
Held during Atlanta Art Week, Site contained some of the most spectacular and talked-about art works of the year. Artists and producers such as Aineki Traverso, Mike Stasny, Lauren Tate Baeza and Roberto Rafael Navarrete made full use of the Civil War-era locale to dazzle and engage audiences.
“ … an Atlanta Biennial …,” Temporary Art Center, October
Mounted by artist-curators, … an Atlanta Biennial … showed what could be accomplished with grit, persistence and a deep knowledge of art made in Atlanta. The Temporary Art Center commandeered 6,000 square feet of otherwise unused warehouse space to exhibit grand-scale work by Sonya Yong James, Tori Tinsley, William Downs and many others.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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