about

The exhibitions program at the Arlington Arts Center (AAC) supports the work of emerging contemporary artists in the Mid-Atlantic region. Once a year, the AAC announces a call for exhibition proposals. The submissions we receive are reviewed by our exhibitions committee, which includes notable artists, critics, curators, and collectors from across the greater D.C. metropolitan region. Our final roster of selected artists, hailing from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, is then featured in two SOLOS exhibitions. Each artist mounts a self-contained show in one of seven separate gallery spaces within the building. The result provides a sampler of exceptional, cutting edge art in a variety of media.

The AAC also features themed invitational shows organized either by our Director of Exhibitions or, occasionally, by a prominent guest curator. These shows typically take on challenging topics of the moment, and bring an array of exciting avant-garde practitioners from the regional, national, and even international stage to Arlington. These shows and their attendant lectures, workshops, and panel discussions, offer opportunities for dialogue, and ultimately serve to illustrate the value of contemporary art—specifically, what it is, how it works, and why it matters in our daily lives.