ISVC Website: https://cicamuseum.com/isvc

Exhibition: “Visual Culture 2026” September 9–27, 2026 CICA Museum, Korea

International Symposium for Visual Culture (ISVC) 2026 September 19–20, 2026 The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center Visual and Performing Arts Department Montgomery College

Visual Culture 2026 Popup Show September 19–20, 2026 Maze Gallery The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center Visual and Performing Arts Department Montgomery College**

We invite artists, scholars, and researchers from around the world to participate in the International Symposium for Visual Culture & Exhibition 2026.

The symposium brings together a global community of artists, researchers, and academics in vibrant downtown Silver Spring, adjacent to Washington, DC, USA. The symposium and popup show will be hosted by Montgomery College, while the international exhibition will take place at the CICA Museum in Korea. These events are organized in collaboration with the CICA Museum and the Visual and Performing Arts Department of Montgomery College, Takoma Park/Silver Spring.

ISVC serves as an international platform for diverse and critical perspectives on visual culture. Through this program, we aim to build a global network of researchers, artists, and creators and audiences of visual culture, fostering critical discourse and a deeper understanding of visual culture worldwide.

Participating artists and researchers will be featured in the publication New Media Art 2027, to be released in full-color paperback in December 2026 by CICA Press. Contributions may include English texts (e.g., interviews, essays, poetry), drawings, and images introducing the artist’s work.

Categories & Keywords:

Art and Capitalism Art, Technology, and Culture New Media Art Mass Culture Postmodernism Globalism Critical Studies Nationalism and Visual Culture Race and Identity in Art & Culture Feminist Studies on Visual Culture Art & Culture in a Global Pandemic Digital Culture and Social Media Digital Humanism Artificial Intelligence and Humanism Algorithmic Bias & Visual Culture Data Aesthetics Post-Human & Ecological Perspectives Post-humanism Environmental Issues and Culture Bio Art & Post-Nature Culture Global Mobility & Diaspora Visualities Archival Art Digital Nomad Immersive Media & Presence

[Symposium] International Symposium for Visual Culture (ISVC) 2026

The symposium will be held at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, Montgomery College, Silver Spring, on September 19–20, 2026.

Each accepted presenter will have the opportunity to discuss their work with peers. All presenters must register upon acceptance and deliver a presentation or performance during their assigned session.

We welcome proposals for paper presentations, workshops, experimental sessions, and artistic performances.

Each presenter (or presenting team) will receive three complimentary general admission tickets to ISVC 2026 to invite guests. Additional tickets will be available for purchase on the ISVC website.

The symposium will be held onsite, and presenters are required to attend in person and present onsite. Online presentations are permitted only for presenters who have previously applied for online sessions; applications for online sessions are now closed.

• Montgomery College students will receive a free guest pass to the symposium, while faculty and staff are eligible for a 51% discount on registration as presenters or guests. For more information, please contact us.

[Exhibition] “Visual Culture 2026” at the CICA Museum

The international exhibition “Visual Culture 2026” will be held at the CICA Museum from September 9 to 27, 2026. Each artist may exhibit up to two works. Participation is optional.

Installation Guidelines

– Photographs & 2D Digital Art

Selected works will be printed in 10×15 or 10×10 inches, framed, and installed by museum curators and assistants. Larger sizes may be available upon request; additional fees may apply.

– Video & Interactive Art

The museum will provide projectors and DVD/DIVX players. Multiple single-channel works may be screened on a shared projector. If your work requires exclusive screening or more than two projectors/monitors, please indicate this in your submission email. Additional fees may apply.

– Physical Works & Installation Art

Artists are responsible for shipping and delivery costs to and from the CICA Museum. Two-dimensional works must not exceed 39 inches (1 m) on the longest side. Installation works must not exceed 39×39×79 inches (1×1×2 m, W×L×H). Wall-mounted works must not exceed 10 kg. Our curators and staff will install framed works, paintings, and sculptures. Additional fees may apply if the artist requests our team to install installation art or works that require specific installation instructions. Please let us know if you are interested in exhibiting works that exceed the size/weight limits or if you would like to request the installation of installation art.

[Exhibition] Visual Culture 2026 Popup Show at Maze Gallery

Presenters may bring one work for the popup show at Montgomery College, open during the symposium (September 19–20, 2026). Participation is optional.

Artists are responsible for delivering, installing, and removing their artworks. Size and weight limitations are the same as above.

The college may provide monitors for video works; however, availability may be limited. We will coordinate with artists regarding space and equipment after final selection.

Timeline June 19, 2026 — Submission Deadline June 25 – July 1, 2026 — Presenter Registration September 9 – 27, 2026 — Exhibition at CICA Museum September 18, 2026 — Installation Day (Popup Show), Cafritz Foundation Arts Center September 19–20, 2026 — Symposium at Cafritz Foundation Arts Center September 20, 2026 — ISVC Party 4-7 at Cafritz Foundation Arts Center September 20, 2026, 7–8 PM (tentative) — Dismantling, Cafritz Foundation Arts Center December 15, 2026 — Publication Release ***All dates are subject to change.

How to Submit

– Email subject line: Submission: Visual Culture 2026 – Presenter’s Name

– Please send the following materials to: submission@cicamuseum.com

Required materials: – Short bio – Abstract for the presentation (150–300 words, DOC or PDF) – (Optional) Artwork proposal (DOC or PDF, up to 1,200 words; max. 10 images and 3 video links) to support your presentation

Please indicate your field of specialization in your submission.

** Field of Specialization** – Archaeology – Architecture – Art Education – Art History – Art Studio – Cultural Studies – Graphic Design – Museum Studies – Other

• Selected participants must complete registration to confirm their participation.

• Registration details: http://cicamuseum.com/isvc/registration/

• For inquiries, please visit: http://cicamuseum.com/contact/

We look forward to the participation of creative and critical artists and researchers from around the world.

**Video Description: ** For decades, only five regions were taken seriously in the world of whisky: Scotland, Ireland, the US, Canada, and Japan. Taiwan wasn't even part of the conversation. The climate is wrong and the traditions don't work. But starting in 2002, the whisky started flowing. This video follows the rise of Taiwanese whisky, from its unlikely beginnings to a new wave of independent distillers challenging what whisky can be.

FULL ARTICLE: Like the rising sea levels that have periodically threatened to submerge this city, the 2026 Venice Biennale has experienced waves of uncertainty that have only grown in strength as the public opening of the world’s most prestigious international art exhibition nears on Saturday morning.

Its curator, Koyo Kouoh, died last year at age 57, within days after receiving a terminal diagnosis of liver cancer, leaving her team with a still-unfolding view of the exhibition she intended to build. And the 61st Biennale, featuring artists representing nearly 100 countries, is no longer a real competition; last week, the five-member prize jury resigned after backlash from its decision to exclude artists from countries whose leaders were being investigated by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, and after the artist representing Israel threatened legal action. (Instead, there will be popularity awards voted on by visitors).

The Venice Biennale Foundation, which oversees the exhibition, is also facing scrutiny from the Italian government and European Union because of its decision to allow Russia to participate in this year’s edition.

Here are five questions you might have about the Venice Biennale — and why this year’s edition has encountered so much controversy.

Who curated this year’s Venice Biennale? In December 2024, the Venice Biennale Foundation announced that Kouoh would oversee the central exhibition for the 61st edition of the Biennale. She was born in Cameroon, spent her teenage years in Switzerland, and was the first African woman selected to organize the prestigious show.

In her original curatorial statement, which is titled “In Minor Keys,” she aid the show would not be “a litany of commentary on world events,” though it would not shy from politics.

“In refusing the spectacle of horror, the time has come to listen to the minor keys, to tune in sotto voce to the whispers, to the lower frequencies; to find the oases, the islands, where the dignity of all living beings is safeguarded,” Kouoh wrote.

After her sudden death in May 2025, the Biennale asked Kouoh’s collaborators to complete her vision. The team includes the curators Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo of Britain, Marie Hélène Pereira of Senegal and Rasha Salti, who is based in Berlin and Beirut. Her former assistant, Rory Tsapayi is also a core adviser, as is the journalist Siddhartha Mitter, a New York Times contributor, who is editor in chief of the catalog.

Kouoh was respected in the international art scene as a torchbearer for artists of color from Africa and elsewhere. Until her death, she lead Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, one the continent’s largest contemporary art institutions, and staged influential exhibitions like “When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting,” which traveled internationally.

How faithful will the exhibition be to her vision? Kouoh only had a few months to plan the centerpiece exhibition before her death, leaving an outline of the show for her colleagues to fill. The team behind the current exhibition declined interview requests; however, Salti previously told reporters that she and her colleagues had spent an “intense” week with Kouoh in Dakar, Senegal just before her death. It was there that they agreed on plans for the show, she said, including the artist list.

Several previous curators of the Biennale said that in their experience, it would not have been enough time to finalize the artist’s plans; they also pointed to the sizable fund-raising requirements of doing such a massive show in Venice, which usually falls on the curator.

“I was still in the research phase,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Italian curator who oversaw the 2022 Venice Biennale, adding that she hadn’t started contacting artists at that point.

Without a figurehead, the Biennale relied on Kouoh’s colleagues to finish the job.

Audiences will be looking for Kouoh’s fingerprints on the exhibition, asking if the final result feels more like a tribute or a true embodiment of her ideals.

How is Russia participating in this year’s Biennale? Russia has not made a significant contribution to the Venice Biennale since 2019. The country’s pavilion was closed in 2022 after its invasion of Ukraine earlier that year, when two of its own artists pulled out in protest. And during the last edition, in 2024, the Russian government rented its pavilion to Bolivia.

Although there was no formal ban on Russia’s participation this year, few people expected to see a new exhibition from the country because of the ongoing war. Yet in March, when the Biennale announced this year’s national pavilions, which run alongside the central exhibition and are curated independently, Russia was on the list. It is presenting a group show of at least 38 artists and musicians, called “The Tree Is Rooted in the Sky” that will only open for the press preview, which runs Tuesday through Friday. The organizers said in a statement that the show “rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.”

Ksenia Malykh, a curator for the Ukraine pavilion, told The New York Times that Russia’s return to Venice was the latest example of its use of art “as a weapon in the information war.”

Kirill Savchenkov, one of the Russian artists who withdrew from Venice in 2022, said in an email that his country reopening its pavilion was “unhinged” and “some sort of active measure to cause political division in Europe.”

In March, the European Union’s legislative body, the European Commission, said it would suspend more than $2.3 million in funding to the Venice Biennale if it didn’t reverse course, writing in a later statement that it was a decision “made in the name of protecting European values.” When the prize jury stepped down last week after saying it would not consider any countries whose leaders are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, it was indirectly pointing to Russia and Israel.

The Italian government has also expressed its opposition to the Biennale’s decision to host Russia, even sending inspectors to investigate if its participation was compatible with existing sanctions. While the Italian government provided funding to the event and appointed its president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that the Biennale is an autonomous organization that must make its own choices.

Many artists and curators involved in the Biennale have made their dissent known, and protests against Russia’s participation are expected.

Did the jury have other motivations for resigning? The debate surrounding Russia’s participation in the Venice Biennale comes with long-running concerns by some artists and curators about the participation of other countries involved in global conflicts, including Israel and the United States.

At the last edition of the Venice Biennale, protesters marched by the pavilions of both countries and chanted “Viva, viva, Palestina!” But the Israel pavilion was already closed by then: Ruth Patir, the artist representing the country, had refused to open her exhibition, posting a sign on the window that the pavilion would remain shut until “a cease-fire and hostage release agreement is reached.”

This year, Israeli organizers expect to open their pavilion with an installation by the artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, who told The Times that he was happy the jury stepped down. “Their decision discriminated against me on a racial basis,” he said.

The jury’s resignation came as several activist groups have raised concerns about how countries use the soft power of cultural diplomacy to rebrand themselves in the public eye. Protesters with the group Art Not Genocide Alliance have focused attention on the plight of the Palestinians and have called for the exclusion of Israel from the Biennale. Dozens of artists and curators signed an open letter from the group, including many involved in other national pavilions and the main show.

Organizers are also expecting that activists will stage demonstrations about Russias invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip and the American-Israel war with Iran.

What are the United States’ plans for the Biennale? The United States had a rocky start to its selection process for Venice. State Department officials abandoned using an independent review panel, and several delays left officials scrambling to find an artist willing to represent the country.

The United States Pavilion in Venice. At least two artists turned down offers to represent the country at this year’s Biennale.

Toward the end of last year, officials thought they had found a winning proposal by the artist Robert Lazzarini and the curator John Ravenal. But when the project’s fiscal sponsor dropped out, an appointee at the agency helped clear the way for a friend to take the lead.

That is how Jenni Parido became commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion, despite having no museum experience. For almost a decade, Parido had owned a pet food store in Tampa, Fl. with her husband. She also was involved in animal charities like Big Dog Ranch Rescue, which stages events at Mar-a-Lago and includes members of President Trump’s inner circle among its supporters. She founded the nonprofit American Arts Conservancy last year, which took over the artist selection process for the pavilion.

Parido has relied on the expertise of the curator Jeffrey Uslip, whose last major role at a museum ended about a decade ago when he stepped down from the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

Uslip had difficulty finding an artist to represent the United States. At least two rejected his offer. Then he found Alma Allen. He was an unusual pick: The artist lives in Mexico and creates large, abstract sculptures that have rarely been featured in American museums. Most artists who have represented the United States in previous Biennales have a longer institutional record.

Alma Allen at his home in Mexico City. The Utah-born sculptor, who works in Mexico, is representing the United States at this year’s Biennale. He is known for biomorphic, hand-carved works in wood, stone and bronze. Last month, a White House spokesman, Davis Ingle, said the administration was confident in its plans. “The Department of State is proud to showcase American excellence at the Venice Biennale through the artistic vision of Alma Allen,” he said. “The Trump administration delivered the selection of a talented self-taught American sculptor who personifies the greatness of the American dream.”

Neither the curator nor the commissioner ever visited Allen’s studio, which is unusual for the organizers of a major exhibition. The artist said that he had creative control over the sculptures included in the show, adding that the State Department has not censored his work.

Acknowledging the strange circumstances around his selection, Allen has said that his career was made on taking risks and that he hoped that people would view his work at the Venice Biennale with an open mind.

“As an artist you want people to view the work in an open way,” Allen said. “In this context, that’s a fantastic way. The people will try to decipher the meaning.”

**ABOUT: ** Fundación Casa Wabi and ArtReview are pleased to announce the ninth iteration of our open-call residency prize for three artists interested in cultural cross-fertilization and wishing to enter into a creative dialogue with members of one of the communities around Casa Wabi in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca (México).

Fundación Casa Wabi is a non-profit organization established in 2014 with the aim of promoting social development and international cultural exchange through the arts. The name Casa Wabi originates in wabi sabi, the Japanese aesthetic worldview that seeks wisdom and beauty in simplicity, imperfection, and the transience of nature. Our residency, exhibition, and other programs seek to create social connections with reciprocal, mutually beneficial cultural cross-pollination as their goal.

Casa Wabi is located on the Pacific coast 30 minutes north of Puerto Escondido airport. Situated right on the beach, the main facility was designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando at the invitation of founder, Mexican artist Bosco Sodi. Facilities include an open-air, multipurpose palapa, six independent bungalows, six open ,and two closed, studios, and various other work areas that collectively create the ideal setting in which to recharge one’s energy amongst other artists.

Over more than a decade since its opening, the Foundation has continued to expand its 65-acre grounds through significant architectural and artistic contributions, including permanent installations by established artists and pavilions designed by leading contemporary architects.

For more information about the residency program, including a selection of successful community projects, please visit the completely revised and updated residency section of our website.

Who can apply?

Applications are welcome from all artists from any discipline, regardless of background, age, nationality, or stage of career.

Collaborative applications are welcome; however collectives must consist of no more than two members. Applicants must demonstrate an established history of working collaboratively as an integral part of their practice.

When will the residency be?

Residencies will take place in 2027, with specific dates to be coordinated between the selected artists and Casa Wabi.

How long is the residency?

The residency lasts approximately five to six weeks, depending on the selected period. Once selected, residents will coordinate with the Casa Wabi team to determine the most suitable dates for their stay in 2027. Residencies are scheduled within specific timeframes and take place alongside other artists, so participants are expected to be present for the full agreed period.

Are there any specific requirements for the residency?

Every resident is required to propose, develop, and carry out a community project during the residency period. These projects are approached through a reciprocal exchange with the local community. Please visit our website for a comprehensive overview of how these work. Please note that the proposed project may be refined or adjusted following selection, in collaboration with Casa Wabi’s team.

Casa Wabi is not a production-based residency; however, residents are provided with access to a studio space throughout their stay. At the end of the residency, all participants are asked to leave what we call a “Log” or “Bitácora”—a piece that reflects their time spent there. This becomes part of Casa Wabi’s archive and can take any form, such as a video, song, photograph, painting, sculpture, or any work that represents both their practice and their time during the residency.

FOREWARD: In this fast-paced modern world, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of valuable traditional knowledge and practices. There is a tendency to think of traditional habits and customs as outdated or primitive. Yet, experience across numerous fields has highlighted the value and benefits to be gained from combining customary knowledge and approaches with modern science and understanding.

Such is the case with edible forest insects. The practice of eating insects goes back thousands of years and has been documented in nearly every part of the world. In modern times, however, consumption of insects has declined in many societies and is sometimes ridiculed as old-fashioned and unhealthy. Yet, it would be prudent to carefully consider the value of customary knowledge before discarding it too readily. Scientific analysis confirms, for example, the exceptional nutritional benefits of many forest insects, and studies point to the potential to produce insects for food with far fewer negative environmental impacts than for many mainstream foods consumed today.

Aside from their nutritional and environmental benefits, experts see considerable opportunity for edible insects to provide income and jobs for rural people who capture, rear, process, transport and market insects as food. These prospects can be enhanced through promotion and adoption of modern food technology standards to ensure that the insects are safe and attractive for human consumption.

Traditionally, most edible insects have been harvested from natural forests, but surprisingly little is known about the life cycles, population dynamics, commercial and management potential of most edible forest insects. Among forest managers, knowledge and appreciation of how to manage and harvest insects sustainably is limited. On the other hand, traditional forest dwellers and forest-dependent people often possess remarkable knowledge of the insects and their management, offering excellent opportunities for modern science and traditional knowledge to work together.

In an effort to more fully explore the various facets of edible forest insects, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organized an international workshop, entitled “Forest Insects as Food: Humans Bite Back” in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February 2008. The workshop brought together many of the world’s foremost experts on entomophagy – the practice of eating insects. Specialists in the three-day workshop focused specifically on the science management, collection, harvest, processing, marketing and consumption of edible forest insects, as well as their potential to be reared commercially by local farmers.

It is hoped that this publication, containing the edited proceedings of the Chiang Mai workshop, will help to raise awareness of the potential of edible forest insects as a food source, document the contribution of edible insects to rural livelihoods and highlight linkages to sustainable forest management and conservation.