by Peter Chakerian

CLEVELAND, Ohio — This has been the kind of month that contemporary art is built for. On Friday, Jan. 30 from 6 - 9 p.m., MOCA Cleveland rises to the occasion with its “2026 Opening Night Celebration” which doubles as a four-exhibition kickoff.

The art museum is certainly offering a thesis statement for the times: this is what contemporary art looks like when our world’s stories, wounds and lands are met and stirred with toward an uncertain future.

The evening brings together four unique artistic expressions: “Ohio Now: State of Nature,” “Sky Hopinka: The Myth Is Now,” “KING COBRA: When You Are Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” and “Homing Instinct: Letting Go of the Shore.”

On paper, they may sound like disparate pieces. And they are. In practice, however, they manage to form a single, bracing conversation about survival — cultural, environmental, spiritual and bodily.

Start with “Ohio Now: State of Nature,” a statewide survey of artists grappling with sustainability, food systems and ecological fragility.

+Read the full story at cleveland.com.