You are invited to Sound/Performance/Curation as Care: A Convening on October 9-10, planned to coincide with the fall exhibitions at The Bell and the Cohen Gallery at Brown. From September 3–December 7, The Bell hosts ojo|-|ólǫ́, the first major institutional solo presentation of work by Diné artist Eric-Paul Riege (b. 1994, Na’nízhoozhí [Gallup, New Mexico]), which references Diné mythology, the history of settler trading posts in Navajo Nation, and the notion of “authenticity” as a value marker of Indigenous art and craft. ojo|-|ólǫ́ features a new body of sculptures, collages, textiles and video in conversation with Navajo objects from two anthropological collections where he conducted material research: Brown’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, and the University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. the sun has its own drum, open simultaneously in the Cohen Gallery, presents work by Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag), Duane Slick (Meskwaki Nation of Iowa, Ho Chunk Nation of Nebraska), and Robert Peters (Mashpee Wampanoag), four Northeast-based artists who explore the proliferation of Indigenous worldviews and values through sound. 

Convening curators Thea Quiray Tagle, PhD (Associate Curator of The Bell/Brown Arts Institute) and Christina Young (Exhibitions Fellow, BAI) have invited Indigenous and allied curators, scholars, visual artists, musicians, and poets for conversations and performances that will address three main themes: stewarding museum collections of Indigenous art and objects;  ethically working with Indigenous contemporary art and artists; and modes of producing visual art, music, poetry, and embodied performance that creates new paradigms of seeing and knowing the world. Invited speakers include curators Shándíín Brown, Tess Lukey (The Trustees), NaDaizja Bolling (Aquinnah Cultural Center), and Zach Feuer (Gochman Family Collection); visual artists Clementine Bordeaux, Rachel Martin, and Grace Rosario Perkins; and poets Raquel Gutíerrez and Jessica Fremland. Live performances by Eric-Paul Riege, Ryan Dennison, Erin Genia, Laura Ortman, Anthony Romero and Joshua Rios will activate spaces in The Bell and the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts with sound and movement. 

Through live performances, conversations, and unscripted moments that all are invited to join as co-witnesses, this convening will offer caring yet critical interrogations of the ways Indigeneity is represented in art and educational institutions like Brown.

Participant list and convening schedule coming soon!

This convening has been made possible through the generous support of the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Eric-Paul Riege: ojo|-|ólǫ́ is curated by Thea Quiray Tagle, PhD,  Associate Curator at the The Bell / Brown Arts Institute and Nina Bozicnik, Senior Curator at the Henry Art Gallery. The exhibition is co-presented by The Bell / Brown Arts Institute, Brown University, and the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, with support from the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown and the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. ojo|-|ólǫ́ will be on view at The Bell from September 3 - December 7, 2025 and will travel with a new iteration opening at the Henry Art Gallery from March - August 2026. This project is made possible at Brown with the generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Becky Gochman P'27, and David Gochman '87 P'27.

the sun has its own drum is curated by Christina Young (MA '26 Public Humanities), Exhibitions Fellow at The Bell Gallery/Brown Arts Institute, with Thea Quiray Tagle, PhD. The exhibition is open at the Cohen Gallery in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at Brown from August 19-December 14, 2025.