Big Car

Supportive Story Time For All
2025-01-30 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-06 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Indiana/Indianapolis) | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Each Thursday we will have a reader with a pleasant voice read to you from a book that is positive, expands the imagination and is generally supportive. Bring a blanket, pillow, grab a glass of wine at our bar or bring your own water –whatever you need to unwind and set up in the Main Gallery of Tube Factory artspace.

This series is part of the exhibit Julie Xiao, “A Journey.” Events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation.

The books were selected by Youth Services Librarian Amanda Waller. She is a Youth Services Librarian at a public library in the Chicago suburbs. She believes strongly in the importance of community care and support and has worked in violence prevention, environmental justice, and mutual aid work. Community is what will continue to uplift us and keep us whole!

Year of the Snake - Lunar New Year Celebration
2025-02-01 17:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Welcome the Year of the Snake with Big Car Collaborative and the Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts’ Lunar New Year celebration! Join us on February 1st from 5 to 8:30 PM at the Tube Factory artspace in Garfield Park for a night filled with fun for the whole family!

Experience traditional dance performances by the Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts from 6-7pm, as well as fireworks, and hands-on activities like cut paper art, lantern decorating, fan painting, and so much more! Plus, delicious food will be available for purchase by a local food truck!

The Indianapolis Chinese Performing Arts, Inc. (ICPAI) will perform traditional dances from 6-7pm.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE.

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Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among East and Southeast Asian cultures, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean communities, among others. The New Year celebration is usually celebrated for multiple days—not just one day as in the Gregorian calendar’s New Year.

In 2025, Lunar New Year begins on January 29. China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết.Tied to the lunar calendar, the holiday began as a time for feasting and to honor household and heavenly deities, as well as ancestors. The New Year typically begins with the first new moon that occurs between the end of January and spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar—until the full moon arrives.

Slow Flow Yoga Series with Cory Cathcart
2025-02-02 17:00 - 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Celebrating Meditation & Healing for Creatives on Select Sundays: 5-6 p.m. ( also 2/9)
This series is part of the exhibit “Julie Xiao: A Journey,” events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation. Cathcart will explore how movement and meditation benefit the artistic process through rest, mindful flow, and breath.
No experience necessary.
Bring a mat and water – All levels & bodies welcome.
This class is free, donations are welcome.

February 2025 First Friday - New Show Opening, Sound Performances, & More
2025-02-07 18:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us at Tube Factory artspace on Friday, Feb. 7 from 6 – 10pm for First Friday celebrations including:

The opening of Tierras in Guichelaar Gallery, an exhibition “dedicated to Latine women, daughters, and femme-presenting individuals highlighting the traditional and creative artmaking skills passed down through generations” curated by Alejandra Carrillo and Leyda Melgar.
An ASMR performance by Landon Caldwell in the Main Gallery in coordination with Julie Xiao’s exhibit A Journey Caldwell will consist of improvised compositions of performed and sampled ASMR sounds accompanied by microtonal drones to create an adventurous & meditative sonic environment.
A glitch audio performance by Benjamin Berg (Old Man Glitch / stallio!) in the Jeremy D. Efroymson gallery in coordination with his exhibit I Can See the Pixels.
The continued display of “A Journey“ by Julie Xiao in the Main Gallery.
The continued display of “I Can See the Pixels” by Benjamin Berg in the Jeremy D. Efroymson Gallery
The continued screening of “Inner Voice Transplant” by Wong Kit Yi in the video room
The “Chicken Chapel of Love” opening up, featuring the recent “Fire Mother” mural by Julie Xiao
Normal Coffee, serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for purchase

Free for all ages!

Tierras
2025-02-07 18:00 - 2025-03-28 18:00 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Tierras is dedicated to Latine women, daughters, and femme-presenting individuals highlighting the traditional and creative artmaking skills passed down through generations. Regardless of how distant we may be from our roots or motherland, we remain connected through the matriarchal fibers that stitch us together.
Tierras will showcase both local and out-of-state emerging and established artists. The reception is Friday, February 7th from 6-9:30 pm and the exhibition will run through March 28th for Women’s History Month.

Artists:
Alexandria Canchola @alexandriacanchola
Diana Fernandez Caumol @dididinosauriooo
Kamilah Valentin Diaz @kams_conchispas
Luna @luna_mari_c
Sarah Montañez @ss.monta
Paloma Núñez- Regueiro @palomaprintmaking
Elena Guadiana Segovia @lamentos_ceramicas_
Sheila Clemente-Zoto @_sncz_

Curated by:
Alejandra Carrillo @elrallonadero
Leyda Melgar @leydamelgarart

Flyer credit: Alejandra Carrillo

Curator Bios
Alejandra Carrillo is a multimedia Chicana artist based in Indianaplis, IN by way of Chihuahua, MX. Carrillo has received a double bachelor’s degree in Art Education and Fine Arts in Printmaking from Indiana University. Carrillo teaches multidisciplinary printmaking at the Indianapolis Art Center and is an artist in residence for the Big Car Collaborative. Her most notable achievements include receiving awards from the 2023 Manhattan Graphics Center, the 2024 100th Annual Hoosier Salon Juried Exhibition, and developing a mural for the Indianapolis Mexican Consulate.
Leyda Melgar is a Salvadoran-American artist and educator in Indianapolis. Her work centers themes of her mental health, experiences of assimilation, and her personality through sculptural and mixed-media works. She attended Herron School of Art and Design where she graduated with a Bachelor of Art Education in 2022. Becoming a teacher, Leyda wanted to keep her artistic roots and continue to grow as an artist in the Indianapolis community. She recently completed the Latino Artist Mentorship Program in Indianapolis by participating in a group exhibition at Newfields. She is currently working towards developing a body of work and currently works as a high school digital art teacher.

ASMR Live-Landon Caldwell
2025-02-07 19:00 - 20:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us in the Main Gallery for a live performance of ASMR with artist Landon Caldwell.
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a previously unstudied sensory phenomenon, in which individuals experience a tingling, static-like sensation across the scalp, back of the neck and at times further areas in response to specific triggering audio and visual stimuli. This sensation is widely reported to be accompanied by feelings of relaxation and well-being. The current study identifies several common triggers used to achieve ASMR, including whispering, personal attention, crisp sounds and slow movements. Data obtained also illustrates temporary improvements in symptoms of depression and chronic pain in those who engage in ASMR.
Landon Caldwell is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer based in Indianapolis. His work explores environment, family, and class, using sound, words, color, and other materials, presenting immersive environments that redirect attention to the present and reveal hidden layers of reality. Landon has toured extensively across the US, Canada, and Europe and regularly collaborates with artists and musicians in the Midwest and beyond, having served time in improvisational units like Eternal Husk, Crazy Doberman, and the Open Sex. With Mark Tester, he curates and runs Medium Sound, a focal point of adventurous music in Indianapolis. Since 2020, he has host free sound art programming, installations, and workshops through Sonic Potluck, a collaboration with Rob Funkhouser. His installation work has been exhibited at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Terminal Kyoto, the Indiana State Museum, and more.
This series is part of the exhibit Julie Xiao, “A Journey.” Events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation.

Slow Flow Yoga Series with Cory Cathcart
2025-02-09 17:00 - 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Celebrating Meditation & Healing for Creatives
This series is part of the exhibit “Julie Xiao: A Journey,” events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation. Cathcart will explore how movement and meditation benefit the artistic process through rest, mindful flow, and breath.
No experience necessary.
Bring a mat and water – All levels & bodies welcome.
This class is free, donations are welcome.

ASMR Live- Rob Funkhouser
2025-02-13 18:30 - 20:00
Join us in the Main Gallery for a live performance of ASMR with artist Rob Funkhouser.
Doors are at 6:30pm, performance starts at 7pm.
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a previously unstudied sensory phenomenon, in which individuals experience a tingling, static-like sensation across the scalp, back of the neck and at times further areas in response to specific triggering audio and visual stimuli. This sensation is widely reported to be accompanied by feelings of relaxation and well-being. The current study identifies several common triggers used to achieve ASMR, including whispering, personal attention, crisp sounds and slow movements. Data obtained also illustrates temporary improvements in symptoms of depression and chronic pain in those who engage in ASMR.
Rob Funkhouser is a composer, performer, and instrument builder who can never quite sit still. His work is concerned with ideas of place, memory, and pattern and he is interested in interrogating the interstitial spaces between established genres. He holds an M.M. from Butler University in Music Composition, and most recently completed Peace of Mind, Speed of Thought for Classical Music Indy. He has released projects through various labels in three different countries, but finds his home turf on Auris Apothecary and Medium Sound. His current projects include an ongoing series of recordings and writing under the title Walking Music, building a new set of instruments in collaboration with artist Justin Cooper, and ongoing work on new performance tools for music and installations. In 2020, he began a long-term living residency with Big Car as part of their APLR program. He also serves as Education Manager for the Rhythm Discovery Center, where he runs public programming for schools and community members. He has collaborated with diverse groups including Forward Motion, Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, So Percussion, No Exit Theater, and Chicago-based director Ryan Gleason.
This series is part of the exhibit Julie Xiao, “A Journey.” Events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation.

NIGHTJAR: Angelita Hampton
2025-02-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Doors at 6:30 pm, Reading at 7 pm
Open mic prompt: Write a poem that does justice.
Read a poem or short piece that is 317 words maximum, and challenge yourself to share new work!
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Bio: Angelita Hampton is a writer, visual artist, activist, sister, and daughter. Her undergraduate studies in psychology and African American Studies at Earlham College and graduate studies at the Ohio State University, along with her time living abroad in Mexico, deeply inform her creative work. She identifies as a Black queer feminist revolutionary inspired by and dedicated to social justice.
Angelita is an Indianapolis native who enjoys the arts, nature, and maintaining close ties to family. She has self-published several books of poetry in addition to having poems published in Rigorous, Bay Windows, RagShock, and Coffee People Zine.
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NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

ASMR Live - Sesseka
2025-02-20 18:30 - 20:00
Join us in the gallery for a live performance of ASMR with artist Jessica Dunn, aka, Sesseka, who will lead an audiovisual meditation experience.

Doors 6:30pm.
Performance 7pm

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a previously unstudied sensory phenomenon, in which individuals experience a tingling, static-like sensation across the scalp, back of the neck and at times further areas in response to specific triggering audio and visual stimuli. This sensation is widely reported to be accompanied by feelings of relaxation and well-being. The current study identifies several common triggers used to achieve ASMR, including whispering, personal attention, crisp sounds and slow movements. Data obtained also illustrates temporary improvements in symptoms of depression and chronic pain in those who engage in ASMR.
Jessica Dunn (sesseka) is a multimedia artist known for her immersive, dreamlike worlds combining video, sound, and physical installations. With a scientific curiosity, she finds inspiration by investigating the natural world as well as psychological realms of consciousness. Dunn graduated from Herron School of Art + Design with a double major in painting and sculpture. Caught between 2D and 3D practices, she found her calling in 4D art including experimental animation, performance, and experiential works. With a medium-agnostic mindset, Dunn utilizes a wide variety of materials allowing the concept to drive the process. Lately, Dunn has extended her practice into filmmaking including short documentaries and narrative animations. No matter the format, Dunn’s work invites the viewer to open their perception to explore new realms of reality.
This series is part of the exhibit Julie Xiao, “A Journey.” Events in the gallery during this show will center around healing and mediation.

Integrated Sound Healing with Hoai-Huong
2025-02-22 14:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Bring your own mat or we might few you can borrow. During the session attendees lie on their backs in a relaxed position, listen and stay present with what they are experiencing with the sounds.
Sound Healing promotes relaxation, release of blockages, promotes healing and restores balance. The harmonic sound waves of the crystal sound bowls eases stress, tension, & emotional distress. These sounds place the brain in alpha & theta states while taking it out of the stress response (flight or fight). The crystal bowls are made of 99.99% quartz tuned to 432Hz. Trauma and stress can manifest in so many unique ways in each one of us and affect the very core of our being; inhibiting true joy to shine through. The interconnectedness between the mind, body spirit is significant and continues to be researched in the medical and spiritual communities.
Hoai-Huong has practiced as registered nurse since January of 2004 and achieved a Master of Science in Nursing Education in 2016. Her career focus has been in the areas of emergency/trauma, academia, & mental health/psych for the pediatric & adult population. “I recognized at an early age that I was destined to care for & serve others in a meaningful way,” says Huong. “To be vulnerable with you, I survived emotional, mental, & physically traumatic events & had to do deep work to heal. Sometimes I felt lost & struggled through therapy sessions, doctor’s visits, and medications which in my case, only masked what was deeper within me that I needed to address. My search to go deeper led me to Reiki and sound vibrational energy healing. I am beyond grateful that I have been able to shift from surviving to thriving.”
Capacity for this event is 50. We can not guarantee a spot.

March 2025 First Friday at Tube Factory artspace
2025-03-07 18:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us on Friday, March 7 from 6 to 10 pm at Tube Factory artspace for the opening receptions of Jason Wesaw’s “Sovereign Spirits” in the Main Gallery; Steven Yazzie and Nancy Baric’s “The Nearness of Distance” in the Efroymson Gallery; and Davis Henderson’s BODEWADMI NDAW in the Video Room. And, “Tierras” is continuing in the Guichelaar house gallery until March 28.
Que Tacos Food Truck will be on-site serving up delicious Mexican food for purchase. And Normal Coffee will be offering beverages for purchase, as well.

Steven Yazzie and Nancy Baric: The Nearness of Distance
2025-03-07 18:00 - 2025-04-20 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Jeremy Efroymson Gallery
“My Child, I will feed you, give you good health, and I will give you strength and courage.”
“These are the opening words of Steven J. Yazzie’s 2015 video, Mountain Song, which appear scrawled across the inky blank screen in white letters. The work evokes that of an epic poem akin to Homer or Virgil, signifying a journey that lies before the one who watches and listens to it. Vacillating between testimonies from Indigenous community members and archival audio bytes of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969, the piece creates a tension between power structures, sacred knowledges, and the struggle between living in balance with the natural world and the relentless march of colonial progress through the mechanism and machinations of capitalism – pushing humanity to reach new heights at the expense of the natural order and health of the world.
Yazzie focuses in on the devastating impacts that uranium and its mining have had not only on Indigenous communities, but on the environment writ large, linking uranium to Indigenous cosmologies and histories – referring to the chemical element as an invisible monster. The development of uranium extraction and its weaponization forced/es a wedge between traditional ways of living, replacing a way to live with a colonial sickness that poisons the land, pollutes the water, and creates a level of radioactivity within the consciousness. When Yazzie writes “My child, what I am dressed with is what you are dressed with. I am your home and mother and father,” in the fourth and final verse of his poem, he reminds us that what we do to the earth, to our mother, our father, we do unto ourselves. A caution that the monsters we awaken cannot be put back into slumber.
The idea of monsters and the monstrous continues in the 2021 film by Nancy Barić, Electric Water. The film creates a pastiche of memory, histories, and connection – looking at her own heritage and ancestral arrival to North America from the Adriatic Sea and the origin stories and cosmologies of the Haudenosaunee and their connection to Niagara Falls. Barić illuminates the power of water, in natural understandings, capitalistic understandings, and spiritual understandings. In tying her connection to place, Barić speaks of Nikola Tesla, whose shared country of origin as her families also creates a binding of herself and her genetic memory to the site of Niagara. Tesla’s invention and design of the first hydro-electric power plant at the Falls, which he envisioned for good and to provide power for free to the people, was corrupted by the long tentacles of capitalism. Capitalism and its reach exist like a mutant creature – distorting, corrupting, and poisoning what it touches.
In the film, Barić interviews Rick Hill, a member of the Haudenosaunee community – who grew up near the Falls. Hill shares portions of the Nation’s story of origin, talking about the Creator and his malevolent brother known as Flint. For every good thing the Creator brought into being, Flint would create a wicked counterpart, monsters. During a time of duel between the brothers, they threw and thrashed each other around cataclysmically shifting and shaping the landscape, which Hill believes is what molded the Falls in its current form. To counteract the monsters of his brother’s making, the Creator brought to life Thunder Beings, that with the clap and shock of their existence, drove the monsters back into the ground; Beings which left the Falls when tourism took over – heading west to the Rockies – returning to bring rain every season. The film illuminates the severed connection to culture through colonial abuses and extractive methodological approaches to ‘progress.’ Through the commercialization of the natural world, the spiritual connection is cut – fissured in ways that create barriers to the holy relation to place. Barić and Yazzie show the fissures that occur when the pollution, extraction, and forced control over the earth take over, urging a return to the stories and power of living in balance.”
–Eric Joyce
Steven Yazzie — Mountain Song (11 mins) Mountain Song is part of a series of video/film installation work exploring Diné/Navajo sacred mountains. Structured in four verses, the film explores indigenous knowledge, mystery, resource exploitation (uranium), and post-colonial reflections on community life. Conversations I recorded with elders, friends, and community members are set against the backdrop of a personal journey to a sacred Diné/Navajo mountain, Dibé Nitsaa, in southern Colorado, eventually ending at a mountain outside my backyard where I once lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Concurrently throughout the film, the radio chatter of the first humans landing on the Moon in 1969 (Apollo Mission) can be heard. The intersection of moon landing audio, indigenous stories, and aerial views of tribal territories echo memories of our shared histories while complicating the experience of the perpetual outsider with subjective indigeneity.
Nancy Baric — Electric Water (25 mins), an experimental documentary and a meditation on the poetics and politics of water, moving between my heritage from the Adriatic Sea and the Haudenosaunee perspective on Niagara Falls. While our connection to water is disrupted by pollution, dams, and the tourist’s gaze, there are stories and insights that lead back to water’s power and teachings.
Steven and I met and quickly realized there was a shared world view especially regarding our relationship to land and water. I feel that the two films speak to each and offer a great opportunity to provide a dialogue due to commonality from an Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspective and one of which also extends to the audience. The two films explore issues of representation, ecology and stewardship, and are examples of connection/disconnection due to colonialism. The films together also offer hope for a better future through mutual care.
Steven Yazzie — is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting, installation, video/film, and community collaborations. His work explores the complexities of post-colonial indigenous identity and an ever-evolving community relationship, with a fundamental view that land is the source of life, story, conflict, and healing.
Nancy Baric is Montreal-based artist and filmmaker working at the intersection of cinema and installation. Her practice explores the relationship between ecology, human perception, and intuitive procedures.

Jason Wesaw: Sovereign Spirits
2025-03-07 18:00 - 2025-08-25 19:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Potawatomi (Turtle Clan) artist Jason Wesaw’s exhibit consisting of sculpture, drawings, prints, and installation is linked to the beliefs of his culture related to land, specifically the ground where Tube Factory now sits. This land has been part of Potawatomi lands at different times in history before the United States existed. For this reason, Wesaw used earth and materials from Terri Sisson Park on the Tube Factory campus to create some of the works in this fully commissioned show.
Tube Factory’s chief curator, Shauta Marsh, looked to Wesaw because she felt his work offers a form of time travel — connecting us to a time before and to the present and ways to envision a future with shared connections and value tied to the land. And, in doing so, Wesaw brings people together today and across generations. “An overarching tenant of my practice is a commitment to examining relationships,” he said. “Relationships act as a guidepost for me, whether it’s connecting to family and community, to spirit and my observations in the natural world, or to materials: those which are considered modern art mediums, or found and harvested materials.”
Two pieces anchoring Wesaw’s Sovereign Spirits exhibit to the place where the Tube Factory sits are the tall flowing installations of shimmering satin and taffeta ribbon.
“They address the way that I interact with the underside of life, the places beneath the surface where spirit moves in subtle and powerful ways that only focused reflection and observation can reveal,” Wesaw said.
Wabshkya Sen or White Stone, is a piece about the help we receive through ceremonies that bring us healing and good health, both physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Bean Creek draws attention to the urban stream just outside the walls of the gallery, where we can be reminded that the cleansing, moving spirit of the water can often be found sharing its life force if we simply pause long enough to let our senses guide us to her flowing banks for a quiet moment.
Wesaw will also create an installation composed of black ash baskets or Gokpenagenek. A quintessential and ancient art form amongst the Potawatomi, black ash baskets are not merely functional or decorative objects, they weave together ancient cultural knowledge about the importance of maintaining relationships to the land and each other with a value system based upon reciprocity.
“These baskets are a reflection of our community’s ongoing presence on this Land and they remain a treasured art form practiced by the Potawatomi and many other Tribal Nations. Many of the baskets on view in this collection were made by ancestors of the Pokagon Potawatomi people of northern Indiana and southwest Michigan, with others having been made by their descendants who now carry on this beautiful, customary art form,” Wesaw said.
The intimate, small-scale oil pastel drawings that line the wall illustrate Wesaw’s process of observation and structure, ideas that often are fleshed out even further in his larger works. The textile pieces from his ongoing Blanket Series explore ideas around the transfer of knowledge that occurs between spirit, nature, and human beings, what he sees as a subtle, gentle ceremony of offerings and giveaways.
In the textile and ceramic works, lies an interest in the power of ornamentation, with materials like dyed deer tail and shiny, small objects drawing your gaze closer into the work. Collectively, the work in Sovereign Spirits shows a wide breadth of materials being used, but there is a united spiritual aesthetic of the pieces, regardless of the time, space and dimension in which they are constructed.
“In a quest for connection and common ground,” Wesaw said. “Where is it you look to find the source which helps you move with meaningful purpose, fulfillment, and Love? With Sovereign Spirits, I hope to take you on a journey where you can explore the power of Self, including the connections we have to the communities around us, the longing we feel to belong, and our desires to understand our place amongst all of creation. As we so casually ask for help or guidance from a higher power in difficult times throughout our lives – we must also understand that when spirit comes looking for something from us – that we need to be ready to give back without hesitation or fear; in essence, to have faith. The work in this exhibition recognizes the role of land, water, and skies as we seek a deeper, clearer understanding of Spirit and Self.”
The exhibition’s title, Sovereign Spirits, resonates with meaning across history. “Sovereign is a word most-often used to describe the undisputed authority of political entities, or to imply supreme power and autonomy. Indeed, this is a word that the Potawatomi — and all Tribal Nations — have become eerily familiar with in our centuries-long fights to maintain our traditional culture and inherent human rights, in a country founded on freedoms for all,” Wesaw said. “By stripping away themes centered around history or distinguishing labels like ‘Indian’ and ‘Native American’, what we may find as those layers are peeled back is a deep awareness of the natural world around and within us, and the connection we have to beings other than humans. In an increasingly fast-changing world where the land and people are being eaten up as a resource, there is a humble acknowledgement we can make in understanding the power of reciprocity and the place Spirit holds in the physical world we are living.”
About the Artist: Jason Wesaw works in an array of media including ceramics, textiles, works on paper, and traditional cultural pieces. His projects relate stories about the Potawatomi people’s ancient and evolving connection to the Land, the Sky, the Water, and Beyond. He balances being an artist with working in his Tribal community as a Peacemaker and participating in traditional cultural ceremonies across the Great Lakes. Wesaw is Potawatomi (Turtle Clan) and lives near the historic Pokagon Potawatomi settlement of Rush Lake in southwestern Michigan. His work is in the permanent collections of the Eiteljorg Museum, Grand Valley State University in Michigan, the University of Notre Dame, the Field Museum in Chicago, the Indiana State Museum, and many other regional institutions. He was recently a Mellon Artist-in-Residence at the Newberry Library for the ‘Indigenous Chicago’ exhibition and is a core artist in the current “Woven Being” group exhibition at The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University.
Learn more about Wesaw by visiting his Instagram account @jasonwesaw.
The exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Efroymson Family Fund, the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The show is part of a long term project, Social Alchemy, conceived by Big Car co-founders Shauta Marsh and Jim Walker and artist and philanthropist Jeremy Efroymson, explores historical and contemporary examples of utopian experiments, fictional utopias and dystopias, and social and cooperative-living design projects.
About Tube Factory artspace: Tube Factory is a contemporary art campus and community center. There are four galleries on the campus, two are commissioning galleries. Admission is free. It is also the home base for Big Car Collaborative’s work across Indianapolis and beyond. Tube Factory features rotating exhibits, interactive projects, community space, a reference library, an outdoor gathering space, and much more to find through exploring. Tube Factory is an independent, noncommercial, nonprofit public place.
Tube Factory is run by the 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit, Big Car Collaborative. As an artist-run nonprofit organization, we utilize tools of culture and creativity to build community and social cohesion — connecting people as a way to boost quality of life. We support our community by supporting artists.
Much of our work happens on a single block where we own or co-own more than 20 properties — including a long-term affordable housing program for artists and Tube Factory — a contemporary art museum with a cafe, studios, and community space. At our campus of adaptive reuse buildings and public greenspace, we host community and cultural programs to promote social connectivity, cooperation, and creativity.
We also facilitate people-focused placemaking and place keeping projects across the city and beyond through Spark. Tune in to our experimental, community-focused radio station, WQRT 99.1 FM — also streaming at wqrt.org. Learn more at BigCar.org and TubeFactory.org.
About Indiana and Tribal Land (from the Indiana State website):
There are two tribes that have land in Indiana.
The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi received a small portion of their land back from their removal in Indiana. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is a federally recognized tribe. It is one of 573 federally recognized tribes in the United States. The Bureau of Indian Affairs contacted Chairman John Warren to state that their tribe, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, had been approved on November 18, 2016 to receive 166 acres of land in trust in South Bend, Indiana. The tribe successfully put a few housing units and tribal government buildings to assist their tribal members living in Indiana. It also built a 175,000 square foot and 1,800 Class II gaming devices, four restaurants, a player’s lounge, a coffee shop, two bars, a retail outlet and approximately 4,500 parking spaces including an enclosed parking structure.
The second tribe that has land in Indiana is the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. The tribe was given land to put a Cultural Extension Office for their tribal members living in Indiana to attend specific gatherings, ceremonies and education events at this office located in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
There are approximately 25,000 other tribal members who live in Indiana, from the Apache, Cherokee, Navajo, Comanche, Lakota Sioux, and other federally recognized tribes.
Information via: faqs.in.gov/hc/en-us/articles/360033547051-Are-there-any-Native-American-tribes-in-Indiana

Davis Henderson: BODEWADMI NDAW
2025-03-07 18:00 - 2025-08-25 19:30 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Video Room Gallery

BODEWADMI NDAW is a documentary about the efforts of the Potawatomi people to revitalize their language, Bodwéwadmimwen. The title is a declaration. It means I am Potawatomi.
“My people have spent centuries unable to be ourselves lest we face malice, persecution, and death. It has only been 25 years that the federal government has recognized us as our own people and it is through our distinct language and culture. Our language, however, has been rapidly disappearing,” says Henderson. “To my knowledge, there is no other film in the world that covers this subject. This story needs to be told. Our language is beautiful. My people are beautiful. We do not deserve to disappear.”

About the artist
Davis Henderson is a filmmaker, voice actor, and storyteller. As a citizen of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi Indians (also known by the community as the Gun Lake Tribe). Kalamazoo born and based, they wish to share stories about the land that we gather on that are not written in history books.

Sketch Club with India Hines
2025-03-12 15:00 - 17:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
If you love sketching and are looking for community, come hang out and draw with our longterm artist in residence, India Hines.
India Hines, a self-taught artist from Denver, CO, and raised in Indianapolis, IN, uses ink, watercolor, and oil paints to explore spirituality and the subconscious. Their intuitive process results in figurative faces and organic shapes that reflect a journey of growth, resilience, and love. India’s art is deeply meditative, rich with emotional depth, and narrates stories of overcoming adversity. Active in community projects and exhibitions, India believes in art’s power to unite and continues to push creative boundaries while exploring personal growth and self-discovery.”

"Tierras": Artists in Conversation
2025-03-15 12:30 - 14:30 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join in on a conversation with artists featured in “Tierras” at Guichelaar Gallery on the Tube Factory campus on Saturday March 15 at 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. EST. In this event, they will touch on their creative processes and their motherland ties.
For more information and to RSVP, please visit Eventbrite.com.

Únase a una conversación con artistas presentados en “Tierras” en la Galería Guichelaar en el campus de Tube Factory el sábado 15 de marzo a las 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. EST. En este evento, tocarán sus procesos creativos y sus lazos con la patria.
Para obtener más información y confirmar su asistencia, visite Eventbrite.com.

Community Painting Day: Restoring the "Welcome to Garfield Park" Mural
2025-03-15 13:00 - 18:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Neighbors of any artistic skill level or experience are invited to join us for a community painting day on Saturday, March 15 at Tube Factory artspace from 1-6 p.m.
With volunteer help, the Garfield Park Neighbors Association, Big Car Collaborative, and Big Car co-founder and creative director Andy Fry will be repainting the “Welcome to Garfield Park” mural to replace the one in need of restoration on the north side of Suding Hardware on Shelby Street. This is all happening thanks to a Public Art for Neighborhoods Grant from the Indy Arts Council.
In addition, there will be special postcards featuring the mural available to send for free at Tube Factory during and following the event.
Indianapolis-based artist Fry designed and illustrated the mural in 2012 through a collaborative design process with many neighbors who offered input on the themes and content, and was co-led by Executive Director Jim Walker and the Big Car team.
More than 50 neighbors also volunteered to help paint the mural with the Big Car team in 2012, working on sawhorses and easels under the towering oak trees as leaves fell in the park. Hard costs of the mural were funded by a grant from Lowe’s and Keep America Beautiful, and Big Car staff — which began working in the neighborhood in 2011 — donated its time to this project.
After completing the painting process, the Big Car crew installed the mural on Suding’s Hardware at Shelby Street and Raymond. Since then, the mural has become a notable symbol of our Garfield Park neighborhood.
Over the years, the mural — originally painted on marine-grade plywood — has been damaged by the elements. This time, neighbors and the Big Car artist team will work together to repaint Fry’s original mural design on aluminum composite panels that will better withstand the weather in upcoming years.
Volunteers we are looking for:

Garfield Park residents excited about supporting the neighborhood and public art
People with painting experience (art, around the house, etc.) — not required
People 10 years old and up (coloring activity available for kids under 10)

Snacks and water will be provided at the painting event, with coffee and other beverages available for purchase at Normal Coffee. Anyone with questions can contact Big Car at email hidden; JavaScript is required or GPNA at email hidden; JavaScript is required.
*RSVP is not required, and volunteers are not required to stay for the full 5 hours. We recommend wearing comfortable clothes that you won’t mind getting paint on.

NIGHTJAR: Mariah Ivey
2025-03-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Doors at 6:30 pm, Reading at 7 pm
Open mic prompt: Write a poem about home.
Read a poem or short piece that is 317 words maximum, and challenge yourself to share new work!
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Bio: Mariah Ivey, recently muraled as a ‘Keeper of Culture’ in Indianapolis, IN by visual artist Ashley Nora x GangGang, is a nationally renowned poet, musician, scholar, and curator. Mariah is the visionary and founder of That Peace Open Mic, centering spoken word, hip-hop, and visual art as a form of resistance and communal healing. She also co-curates the annual Indy-based arts and wellness festival, The RE-UP.
Currently, Mariah serves as the Programs and Outreach Manager for the Madam Walker Legacy Center. She is a 2023 Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) Fellow, a member of Central Indiana Community Foundation’s (CICF) artist ambassador board and is the inaugural Board President of the Naptown African American Theatre Collective, Indy’s first Black Equity Theatre. With community in mind, Mariah continues to use her work as a catalyst for reimagining Black futurity, joy, and togetherness through the preservation of Black and Brown stories.
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NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

Flore Laurentienne at Tube Factory artspace
2025-03-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Flore Laurentienne is performing at Tube Factory artspace on Wednesday, March, 26, 2025 from 7-9pm EST.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased HERE via Eventbrite.
In addition, Indianapolis composer and instrumentalist Rob Funkhouser will open the concert.

Each performance is a chance to step into a world where music and nature intertwine—a rare and intimate experience.
Flore Laurentienne is an open window to the technicolor soundscapes of Mathieu David Gagnon – the Canadian composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who shapes vast orchestral sound to interpret the rugged wilderness and waters of his native Québec. The namesake of an inventory documenting St. Lawrence Valley flora, Flore Laurentienne illumes the science and spirit of his surrounds through expansive string orchestrations melded with the textures and experimentation of early analogue synths.
Following the compass and critical acclaim of his Volume I debut, Flore Laurentienne returned in October 2022 with Volume II to resume his voyage into environment and emotion. Recorded with string and clarinet ensembles along with Gagnon’s signature modulation, Volume II explores forces of water as metaphorical markers to navigate passages of life and loss, . Reflecting the parallel tenors of nature and humankind, Volume II locates another estuary in Flore Laurentienne’s tides toward contemporary sonic romanticism.
In his approach to composition hued by leitmotif and constraint, Gagnon challenges himself to extract beauty from simplicity in homage to the changing faces of natural landscapes. The presence of familiarity and flux in Volume I is heightened through the vivid instrumentation of a fifteen-piece string orchestra, which Gagnon brings together with an array of 1960s and 70s synthesizers, including the Minimoog Model D, the EMS Synthi and combo organs – an innately ambitious project which forges the composer’s distinctive path in the expansion of classical music archetypes.
Flore Laurentienne was nominated in seven categories at the 2020 ADISQ in Québec, winning the ‘Arrangement of the Year’ and ‘Sound Recording and Mixing of the Year’. In 2020, Volume I was longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize and received four nominations at the Felix Awards for ‘Revelation of the Year’, ‘Songwriter of the Year’, ‘Critic’s Choice Album of the Year’ and ‘Instrumental Album of the Year’. In 2021, Flore Laurentienne was nominated for the** Juno Awards** ‘Instrumental Album of the Year’ in recognition for his contribution to Canadian music. In addition, Fleuve No. 1 opened the Chanel fashion show at Paris Fashion Week 2022.
Awards & Recognition
Nominated at the 2021 JUNOS Awards for Instrumental Album of the Year
Nominated on the 2020 Polaris Prize Short List for Volume 1
Winner at the 2020 ADISQ for Arrangement of the Yearfor Volume 1
Winner at the 2020 ADISQ for Sound Recording and Mixing of the Year for Volume 1
Nominated at the 2020 ADISQ for Best New Artist
Nominated at the 2020 ADISQ for Album of the Year – Critic’s Choice for Volume 1
Nominated at the 2020 ADISQ for Author or Composer of the Year for Volume 1
Nominated at the 2020 ADISQ for Revelation of the Year for Volume 1
Nominated at the 2020 ADISQ for Songwriter of the Year for Volume 1
Nominated at the 2020 ADISQ for Album of the Year – Instrumental for Volume 1

Rob Funkhouser is a composer, performer, and instrument builder who can never quite sit still. His work is concerned with ideas of place, memory, and pattern and he is interested in interrogating the interstitial spaces between established genres.

April 2025 First Friday at Tube Factory artspace
2025-04-04 18:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Join us on Friday, April 4 from 6 to 10 pm at Tube Factory artspace for the opening reception of “Illuminate” — presented by artists in Big Car’s affordable housing program and Indiana Peer Education Program (INPEP) — in the Guichelaar house gallery.
In addition, Jason Wesaw’s “Sovereign Spirits” in the Main Gallery; Steven Yazzie and Nancy Baric’s “The Nearness of Distance” in the Efroymson Gallery; and Davis Henderson’s BODEWADMI NDAW in the Video Room are continuing.
And Normal Coffee will be offering beverages for purchase, as well.

* Update: There will not be a food truck due to current weather conditions.

Illuminate
2025-04-04 18:00 - 2025-05-09 18:00 | Guichelaar Gallery, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Art shifts how we see and understand the world around us.
Many art shows by artists who are or have been incarcerated aim to capture their experience being impacted by the legal system. While this awareness is important, the lived experience overshadows the expression of artists to show their craft, practice, and work. Illuminate brings to light the achievements and artistic talents of some of Indiana’s finest visual artists, storytellers, and sculptors.
The opening reception will be on Friday, April 4 from 6-10pm at Guichelaar Gallery on the Tube Factory campus. The last day to see Illuminate is Friday, May 30.

2025 Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series: April Concert
2025-04-13 12:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana are thrilled to continue as part of a national program to bring FREE, high quality, live concerts through the Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series! In this — the second year of the series here — we’ll bring the free musical entertainment to our Tube Factory campus once a month over seven Sundays. We’re also adding cultural aspects like traditional dance performances and opportunities for local artists and artisans to sell their work as part of these lively community events.
When: Noon to 3 pm on April 13, May 18, June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12.
Where: Tube Factory campus, on the near southside of Indianapolis, at 1125 Cruft St. — Concerts will happen at the amphitheatre in our Terri Sisson Park greenspace and move inside Tube Factory in bad weather. While there will be some provided seating at this outdoor event, we encourage visitors to bring blankets or other lawn seating for them to enjoy during the event.
Who: Big Car Collaborative and Arte Mexicano en Indiana collaborating with partners, sponsors, and local and national musicians, local vendors, artists, and creatives.
Why: To bring additional liveliness to an underused area of our neighborhood with free outdoor music experiences and neighborly, inclusive, fun, and creative social gatherings.
April 13’s lineup:

Daglio (Latin rock)
Laura Kay & the Bootleggers (country)
Joshua Powell (indie rock)
Food Truck: Chef Dan’s (Cajun/Southern-style food)

And:

Open picnicking (people can bring their own food and drink) is encouraged
Fun games will be on-site
Tube Factory galleries will be open
Bean Creek Outlook and Terri Sisson Park nature spaces will be open

Learn more about the series here.
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Thanks to the Levitt Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Lumina Foundation, and MIBOR REALTOR Association for their generous support of Levitt VIBE Indianapolis!
The Levitt VIBE Indianapolis Music Series is supported in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, which partners with changemakers and nonprofits across the country to activate underused outdoor spaces, creating welcoming and inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music brings people together, fosters belonging, and invigorates community life. www.levitt.org

NIGHTJAR: Liz Whiteacre
2025-04-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Doors at 6:30 pm, Reading at 7 pm
Featured Poet: Liz Whiteacre
Open mic prompt: Write a poem about diagnosis. Or write a poem about resilience.
Read a poem or short piece that is 317 words maximum, and challenge yourself to share new work!
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Featured Artist Bio: Liz Whiteacre’s poetry explores accident, disability, aging, and wellness. She is the author of Hit the Ground (2013), it could account for the panic (forthcoming 2025), Hindsight 20/24 (forthcoming 2026). Her poems have appeared in Wordgathering, Disability Studies Quarterly, Kaleidoscope, Breath & Shadow, Flying Island, and other publications. Whiteacre is an associate professor of English at the University of Indianapolis. She teaches writing and publishing there, as well as advises Etchings Press.
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NIGHTJAR creates an inclusive space for all by bringing together spoken-word performers and page-based poets writing in narrative, lyric, and experimental forms. Every third Wednesday, C.S. Carrier and Michelle Niemann host a reading and invite audience members to share their own poetic responses.

Current State 2025: Herron's Electronic Music Showcase
2025-04-27 11:00 - 15:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
Featuring more than 20 performers, CURRENT STATE is a live concert event putting the talent of Herron School of Art and Design music students on display.

Students from Herron’s undergraduate music technology program will present original works drawn from a wide array of musical styles including electronic pop, house, hip-hop, noise, experimental, and beyond.

Herron’s music technology program is proud to partner with Big Car Collaborative, whose Tube Factory artspace will serve as a stage for this exciting afternoon of live music.

Open Bocce Play!
2025-04-27 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-05-04 12:00 - 15:00 | Terri Sisson Park, 1125 Cruft Street, Indianapolis
Grab some friends or neighbors and come by to enjoy Tube Factory’s Bocce court! The outdoor court is located to the left of 1207 Cruft Street, down Cruft past Tube Factory. Enjoy the weather, Terri Sisson Park, and our community with open bocce ball!

May 2025 First Friday
2025-05-02 18:00 - 22:00 | Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi), 1125 Cruft St., Indianapolis, IN, 46203, United States
New Exhibit Opening: Ben Hall: Trunk Rattle Sound Bath in the Jeremy D. Efroymson Gallery
Continuing Exhibits:

Jason Wesaw: Sovereign Spirits in the Main Gallery
Davis Henderson: BODEWADMI NDAW in the Video Room
ILLUMINATE in Guichelaar Gallery

Food truck: RMY’s Soul/Comfort Food
Coffee & Other Beverages: Normal Coffee
Free for the whole family

Ben Hall: Trunk Rattle Sound Bath
2025-05-02 18:00 - 2025-06-15 17:00
Trunk Rattle Sound Bath merges ongoing areas of Ben Hall’s research into polyrhythm (the simultaneous use of two or more contrasting rhythms), sonic immersion, and ancestral resonance through the lens of embodied listening. The title draws from the cultural experience of low-end frequencies booming from car trunks — windows shaking with no discernible rhythm, the body absorbing it all. “Vibrational frequencies are in everything,” Hall says. “Our bodies. We are observing by vibration even when we shut down. Our nervous system is still there, thrumming.”
With this new body of work, Hall focuses on not just what is played or heard, but what is felt, what is transferred through vibration, what buzzes and rattles in the body long after the source has passed. The body is a resonant shell for the vibrations that occur all around us. “The 17th-century Dutch physicist Christian Huygens observed the entrainment of pendulums,” Hall explains. “He noted in 1655 that if two pendulum clocks were placed near each other, they would synchronize. They wanted to be in rhythm with each other — but it was, and is, not instant. That move toward synchronization, toward harmony… The experience of rhythm, of immersion in sound, of allowing your body to be an entire resonating chamber is to allow that process to begin each time — and allow for the vibration to be you.”
Inspired by the mbira, a traditional African thumb piano with metal tines and built-in buzzers used in spiritual ceremonies to connect with ancestors, Hall draws a throughline from West African sonic cosmologies to Midwestern street corners. “Those buzzes are supposed to be the actual frequencies that cut through to the ancestors,” he says. “The consequence of the sound is what communicates with another world.” In this way, the sound bath is not a cleansing ritual in the New Age sense, but a full-bodied immersion in histories.
Hall makes the connection between the mbiras of tradition and the trunk rattle of modernity. “When you are at the red light next to the Buick,” Hall says, “you’ll notice that the rattling and buzzing is not consistent with the rhythm created by the bass frequencies coming from the vehicle. Often, it will seem that the rattling of your windows — a different distance, a different material from the sound maker — is not even related at times to the rhythm, as though the frequencies you’re hearing in the passing vehicle are somehow coincidental to the vibration in your home.”
Trunk Rattle Sound Bath invites visitors to consider rhythm not only as musical but as a way of knowing, of feeling, of remembering. “When a frequency, a sound (but also a rhythm, a repetition) occurs to us at a different frequency than the one we live in,” Hall says, “we are receiving energy. Frequency is just another way to say energy.” Whether through sound, image, or movement, Hall’s work opens a space for that energy to circulate — and for the body, buzzing like a loose antenna, to receive it. “Vibrational frequencies are in everything,” Hall declares.
About the artist: Ben Hall is an artist and composer based in/from Detroit, Michigan. He was profiled in Fred Moten’s 2017 book, Black and Blur and frequently works as a critic and essayist with a research focus on the visionary American composers Milford Graves and Bill Dixon. He formerly served as a senior research fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College from 2018-2022. He has presented prints, drawings, film, sculpture and works for sound in numerous exhibitions including the solos Jives & Gambles at Essex Flowers in NYC and Slow An Alarm Until It’s A Tone at MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit). He is currently compiling material for the forthcoming publication, A Black Liberation Music Guide.
Curator: Landon Caldwell
Live performance: June 8, 12pm by Hall’s ensemble, Oceanic Beloved.
This exhibition is made possible by the Indy Arts Council and the City of Indianapolis, the Indiana Arts Commission, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Efroymson Family Fund.
