The Contemporary Arts Center kicks off its 2025–2026 season with a slate of solo exhibitions including local artists Sheida Soleimani, Gee Horton and Michael Stillion. The shows explore themes such as identity, memory and resistance.
The season opens Oct. 18 with Soleimani’s “What a Revolutionary Must Know,” her multimedia “Ghostwriter” series tracing her family’s escape from Iran’s regime. Blending photography, sculpture and video, Soleimani confronts political trauma and exile while drawing on personal ties to the Loveland neighborhood.
The exhibition marks her first museum presentation of video work, per the CAC.
of the artist, Harlan Levey Projects, Brussels & Edel Assanti, London
“CAC has always been a space to champion new ideas,” said CAC Executive Director Christina Vassallo. “We’re proud to open (the) season with the presentation of Sheida Soleimani’s solo exhibition… to run concurrently with Marcus Leslie Singleton’s recent debut of his first U.S. solo museum exhibition, “New Steps.” Through their very different yet equally compelling perspectives, audiences will encounter new ways of navigating the personal and the political.”
Vassallo said the season reflects the center’s commitment to presenting fresh perspectives. That spirit continues throughout the lineup, beginning with a rare glimpse into the early days of digital art.
Running at the same time is “Pictures from a Gallery,” a six-and-a-half-minute film created in 1976 by Cincinnati-born multimedia artist Lillian Schwartz. On view from Oct. 18 through Jan. 25, 2026, the piece – set to music by Albert Miller – uses vintage computer technology to turn black-and-white photos of Schwartz’s family, home and Cincinnati into a dreamlike sequence.
The season continues in early 2026 with the annual MFA exhibition featuring graduate students from Miami University and the University of Cincinnati, on view Feb. 20 to March 22.
Spring solo shows by Stillion and Horton both open April 24 at the downtown Cincinnati museum.
Michael Stillion, Fragment, 2021, Oil on canvas, 35 x 45 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
Stillion’s “And then it was flowers” (through Aug. 20, 2026) features paintings of human-like vessels paired with oversized poppies, exploring fragility and impermanence through surreal imagery. Horton’s “Chapter 4: In Another Lifetime” (through Aug. 30, 2026) presents hyperrealist portraits that examine Black identity and intergenerational trauma through symbolic and dreamlike elements.
CAC’s curator, Theresa Bembnister, said that through distinct approaches, Soleimani, Schwartz, Stillion and Horton “each explore themes of legacy, history, and identity in ways that feel both deeply personal and profoundly timely.”
“The exhibitions… are powerful reminders of how artists reflect our world – its beauty, its complexities, and everything in between,” she said. “Experiencing these works in a shared space offers an opportunity to reconnect, to reflect, and to reclaim a sense of community and humanity.”
For more details and images, visit the Contemporary Arts Center website.
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