UMBC’s annual collaborative art exhibition with Towson University, Spark, opened its doors this November at The Peale, Baltimore’s neighborhood museum, and has continued to delight audiences with its captivating installations. This year’s show, titled SPARK VII: Industrial Afterglow, gathers more than 20 artists working across sculpture, installation, sound, photography, video, textiles, and ecological documentation to explore what lingers in the wake of industrial and technological systems.
In addition to those highlighted in photos, participating artists from UMBC include Chelsey Barrera, B.F.A.’27, visual arts; McCoy Chance, M.F.A. ’25, intermedia and digital arts; Danielle d’Amico, M.F.A. ’19, intermedia and digital arts; Gracie Horne, B.F.A.’27, visual arts; Leah Clare Michaels, M.F.A. ’19, intermedia and digital arts; Edgar Reyes, assistant professor of visual arts; Sarah G. Sharp, associate professor of visual arts; Samantha Sethi, adjunct professor of visual arts; and Mariia Usova, M.F.A. ’25, intermedia and digital arts.
“From bioplastic light sculptures and cyanotype archives to rewilded cityscapes and AI-coded sea monsters, the exhibition casts light — literal and symbolic — on the residues of industry, the reconfigurations of ecosystems, and the speculative futures already blooming in the present,” says Liz Faust, who curated the exhibition on behalf of both universities.
”As a former industrial port city undergoing rapid urban transformation, Baltimore provides a vital lens through which to consider the aftermath of extractive systems and the possibilities of repair,” notes Faust. “Spark asks: What remains after infrastructures collapse? How do ecologies adapt and resist? What does it mean to imagine otherwise? By attending to what still glows, hums, or grows through the ruins, this exhibition transforms light from metaphor into method — revealing the unseen, mourning the obsolete, and illuminating paths toward speculative futures.”
Spark continues on display through this weekend, December 7, with free admission. On Saturday, December 6, at 11 a.m., the exhibition will host a panel discussion featuring assistant professor of visual arts Erik Millikin and Alexi Scheiber, M.F.A. ’25, intermedia and digital arts.
Top image: artwork by McCoy Chance.
Photography by Brad Ziegler/UMBC.
Tags: CAHSS, CAHSS_research, VisualArts