TEMPORARY MONUMENT
APR 11—MAY 2, 2026 325 West Main Street Lexington, KY
Temporary Monument: ATL/LEX brings together artists from Atlanta and Lexington in a pop-up exhibition organized by the Temporary Art Center (TAC) in collaboration with 2nd Story and the University of Kentucky Art Museum, in addition to cultural producers Daniel Freed and Katherine St. Paul Hill, and real estate developer Kathryn Kaufman.
Developed as TAC’s first project outside of Atlanta, this exhibition extends its ongoing interest to stimulate community engagement by increasing exposure for emerging and established artists. Connecting artists from two distinct but connected regional scenes, Temporary Monument considers how place shapes artistic production and how new contexts can generate dialogue across communities. The exhibition foregrounds a range of approaches to figuration, abstraction, materiality, and popular culture, while emphasizing the shared conditions that underpin contemporary practice.
Presented in a 10,000 square foot site in downtown Lexington, the exhibition features work across painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and installation. Many of the projects engage directly with the building itself—its columns, floor-to-ceiling windows, exposed ductwork, and concrete floors—treating the space as both a setting and a material condition.
The exhibition is meant to generate questions about how distinct environments can foster artistic development and nurture talent.TAC is by design a flexible “institution” that takes advantage of urban spaces made available by developers. It has none of the concerns of long-term stability and programmatic deliverables that most arts organizations aspire to. While monuments are typically understood as fixed and enduring, this project proposes a more provisional form, one that exists for a limited time but still carries cultural and historical weight. In this way, Temporary Monument: ATL/LEX positions the exhibition itself as a moment of visibility, exchange, and significance, even within its short duration. It also aims to inspire new models of presentation and investment in the arts.
This exhibition is sponsored by VisitLEX, John Weiland, Tim and Lauren Schrager, and other individual donors in Atlanta and Lexington. Real estate developer Kathryn Kaufman, who is in the process of bringing a vision for the property at 325 Main Street to completion, has generously contributed the space for this exhibition.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Special project by Tim Davis
PROGRAMMING
SATURDAY, APRIL 11
7:00—10:00 PM | Public reception with music by DJ Best Western and AUTO DELTA TIME, and live video projections by Daniel Freed
DJ Best Western, also known as Ryan Filchak, is a vinyl selector, culture writer, and arts administrator based in Lexington, Kentucky. Sourcing records for over twenty years, his sets are shaped by a deep exchange between time spent living in Chicago and residing in the Bluegrass once again, blending world funk, classic house, and regional gems. He has collaborated with organizations including Institute 193, Patron, LVL3, and Bring Music Home.
Joe Clark is a DJ and producer known for his electro-leaning techno as AUTO DELTA TIME, releasing machine music on his label ACOUSTIC DIVISION, and for performing at Lexington’s HIGHER parties with deep crates of classic italo and disco.
Daniel Freed is an organizer of Temporary Monument, a filmmaker, an author, and a video artist. He has created live video projects for live performers from Lexington to New Orleans. His video art has been featured alongside DJs from multiple continents, legendary hip hop artists Juvenile and Manny Fresh, and pioneering synthesizer performer Don Slepian.
SUNDAY, APRIL 12
Throughout the afternoon | Music by JOD Electrified
JOD Electrified is the latest from saxophonist Jacob O'Donnell, previously of Joslyn and the Sweet Compression, Vinyl Richie, and the Tee Dee’s house band. In this project, O’Donnell uses electronic processing to unlock a dazzling and entirely new sonic palette from his horn. He is joined by bassist Eli Uttal-Veroff and percussionist Dave Farris, both of whom also utilize electronics in their performances. The trio creates an improvisatory sound landscape of looped and processed elements drawing from numerous genres. The end product is both catchy, groove based, and just the right amount of weird.
SATURDAY, APRIL 18
Throughout the afternoon | Music by Captain Lotus Vision, Mammoth Cave II, and Sky Cathedral
Captain Lotus Vision is a dreamy alternative rock band featuring live loops and psychedelic, transcending guitars and synthesizers.
Mammoth Cave II improvises experimental ambient music, often utilizing minimal setups to create expansive, immersive tones and drones.
Sky Cathedral is an ambient musician, DJ and visual artist creating dynamic worlds inspired by ancient cultures, emo, video games and sound baths.
2:00—3:00 PM | Join Lexington artists for a tour of the exhibition. Participants TBD.
SUNDAY, APRIL 19
Throughout the afternoon | Music by Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, a local record DJ mostly known for his primitive soul and rock dance platters, will be spinning a downtempo cosmic jazz and electronic soundscape.
3:00—4:30 PM | Literature + Lexington: Our city has a vibrant history of acclaimed poets, essayists, and novelists, as well as intrepid publishers, and venerable literary organizations. This panel asks three Lexington writers about their experiences working in the city. Participants include Gwenda Bond, Katerina Stoykova, and Frank X Walker; moderated by Stuart Horodner.
Gwenda Bond is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the first official Stranger Things novel, Suspicious Minds, the Lois Lane YA series, and the romantic comedies Not Your Average Hot Guy, The Date from Hell, and Mr. & Mrs. Witch. Her most recent novel is a magical art heist book, The Frame-Up. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, Salon, the Los Angeles Times, among others. Bond co-founded the Lexington Writer’s Room, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable and supportive workspaces for traditionally underrepresented writers.
Katerina Stoykova is a bilingual poet and translator, and the author of Between a Bird Cage and a Bird House (University Press of Kentucky, 2024) and The Poet's Guide to Publishing: How to Conceive, Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry (McFarland, 2024). She is the founder and senior editor of Accents Publishing, which has published nearly 100 poetry collections. Stoykova is also the creator of the Accents podcast on WUKY; and has served as Director of the Kentucky Book Festival, as well as the Director for the Center for the Book in Kentucky.
Frank X Walker is Professor of English and African American and Africana Studies at the University of Kentucky, and the first African American writer to be named Kentucky Poet Laureate. His books include Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers, Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, and Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride, which he adapted for the stage. His most recent collection is Load in Nine Times, winner of the PEN/Voelcker Award. Walker coined the term “Affrilachia” and co- founded the Affrilachian Poets, a group of poets and fiction writers whose works challenge the stereotype of white Appalachian culture.
Stuart Horodner is Director of the University of Kentucky Art Museum. He has organized and participated in numerous symposia and educational initiatives at The Armory Show, College Art Association, Concordia University, Kansas City Art Institute, and New York University, among others. His writing has appeared in periodicals including Art Issues, Art Lies, Art on Paper, Bomb, and Dazed & Confused; and his 2012 book, The Art Life: On Creativity and Career, addresses the philosophical and practical issues that affect art-making and the marketplace.
SATURDAY, APRIL 25
3:00—4:30 PM | Artist Self Help, A Brief History: Join Lexington artists for a panel discussion about the history of pop-up exhibitions and artist initiatives in our city. Participants include Becky Alley, Kurt Gohde, Rae Goodwin, Georgia Henkel, and Bob Morgan; moderated by Rachel Hooper.
Becky Alley is a Senior Lecturer in Curatorial Studies and the Gallery Director of the Bolivar Art Gallery at the School of Art & Visual Studies (SAVS) at the University of Kentucky. Her artmaking practice in sculpture and installation is process and materials focused, often examining aspects of ritual, memory, and decay. In 2024, along with curator Samantha Simpson, she established Muse Collective/ blink projects, which develops exhibitions in non-art spaces—a rented truck, garage, and outdoor pod.
Kurt Gohde is a Transylvania University art professor known for his collaborative and community-focused projects. Working with Kremena Todorova, he created the “Unlearn Fear + Hate” and “Lexington Tattoo Project,” both utilizing language, photography, and numerous participants to address issues of identity, place, and social issues. His most recent art action took place on February 28, when Gohde orchestrated the recreation of a historic “meat shower” in association with the Kentucky Meat Shower Festival in Owingsville.
Rae Goodwin is Professor of Art Studio in the School of Art & Visual Studies (SAVS) at the University of Kentucky. Her interdisciplinary work includes, performance, mixed-media sculpture, and drawing; and she has exhibited widely and performed at/with the Queens Museum, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, McColl Center for Visual Art, La Pocha Nostra, and Dimanche Rouge, among others. In 2024, she created the performance space, Portal, in the basement and backyard of her home in Lexington.
Georgia Henkel is a mixed-media artist whose work explores human and animal figures and issues of time, mortality, and the grotesque. She often utilizes significant personal objects from her extensive collection of taxidermy, bones, clothing, dolls, etc. Henkel was a beloved art teacher at the Sayre School for decades and has been an active participant in numerous Lexington art projects as well as educational initiatives in Havana and Baracoa, Cuba.
Bob Morgan is an acclaimed Lexington artist whose assemblage sculptures, photographs, and installations often commemorate people he has known and cared for. In 2014, along with Jonathan Coleman, he co-founded the Faulkner Morgan Archive, an organization that preserves Kentucky’s LGBTQ+ history. Morgan was the driving force behind Galerie Soleil, a visual arts studio and exhibition space that operated between 1994-2009. It was in the building on Short Street that currently houses the Mama Tequila Restaurant.
Rachel Hooper is a Lexington native and the Curator of the University of Kentucky Art Museum. She was Associate Curator and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fellow at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston from 2007-2011; and was a Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis from 2006-2007. From 2018-2024, she taught courses on modern and contemporary art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA.
8:30—11:30 PM | Performance by Clovers; music by DJ Mimi and Octomedusa. $15 entry fee (pay at the door).
Bringing backwoods boogie to the dance floor, Clovers is a pop star, party starter, and performance artist. In collaboration with her producer, DJ, and bodyguard, DJ/Body, she creates infectious earworms and undeniable bangers sure to make you want to move. A Clovers show is always an experience—but what exactly can you expect? Better not tell you now.
Octomedusa: Grooves are guaranteed. Prepare to dance.
SUNDAY, APRIL 26
Throughout the afternoon | Music by Chlorine (2 PM) and John Haywood (3:30 PM)
For a decade Chlorine had been the sound diary of Joseph Mangum- pulling threads of post-punk, minimalism, industrial, folk music, ambient and tape music. Based out of central KY Chlorine has made over a dozen releases. In the current configuration, Joseph is joined by Adam Drury (drums and sax) and Jaimie Adkins (guitar).
In Letcher County, KY, John Haywood is a tattooer (Parlor Room Art and Tattoo), painter, and musician. He performed banjo on the Grammy nominated Tyler Childers album “Long Violent History”; contributed vocals and banjo to Childers’ version of “Two Coats”; and performed with Childers at Radio City Music Hall, Bonaroo, and Red Rocks Amphitheater. Haywood has released a solo banjo cd of old-time east Kentucky songs, and albums with his rock band Appalachiatari, and his punk band L.I.P.S. He was apprentice to banjo master/historian George Gibson, a member of the late Lee Sexton’s band, and a member of Rich n the Po’ Folk.
SATURDAY, MAY 2
11:00 AM—12:00 PM | See What you Can See with Tim Davis: Join acclaimed photographer Tim Davis for a Special Event in downtown Lexington. He states: “Remember the Bear Who Went over the Mountain, ‘to see what you can see?’ Photography is an excuse to spend your time looking at the world. Take a one hour walk with photographer Tim Davis around a neighborhood you likely know better than he does but might look at with less intention. Bring your camera, or don’t. We are here to look.”
Tim Davis earned his Bachelor of Arts from Bard College in 1991 and currently teaches there as associate professor of photography. His work has been exhibited widely and his photographs are in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Guggenheim Museum and the Walker Art Center. His art writing has appeared in publications including Aperture, Blind Spot, Bomb and Cabinet.
1:00—1:30-ish PM | Elder Mario Webb & New Covenant Choir
Since 2011, Elder Mario Webb & New Covenant Choir have been wowing audiences with powerful gospel music in Lexington and beyond. Their soulful and powerful songs will fill the space on the last day of Temporary Monument ATL/LEX.