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The Athenaeum

@athenaeum_uga

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Contemporary art in downtown Athens, GA on the campus of @universityofga and @uga_dodd_art
Wed-Sat 12-6. Always free.

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Saturday is UGA’s first fall home game day! That means the Athenaeum is closed to the public, so please plan ahead. We’re closed for all home football game Saturdays every fall. Go Dawgs! 🏈 taken in University of Georgia by @athenaeum_uga

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a month ago

We’re excited to announce our next year’s exhibition season!

Save the date for our Fall Art Party on Saturday, Aug 29th from 4-6pm,
where we will open two exhibitions. Both artists @erin_johnson____ and @meganledbetterphotography will be in attendance.

𝗘𝗿𝗶𝗻 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗻: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙀𝙡𝙨𝙚
Aug 29, 2026-Mar 20, 2027
Main gallery, Media Gallery

𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮-𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲)
Aug 29-Nov 21, 2026
Gallery 2

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙀𝙡𝙨𝙚 is curated by Rachel Waldrop, Athenaeum, and is co-produced by the @visualartscenter at the University of Texas at Austin, where it will travel Sept 2027-Mar 2028. Originating support comes from UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, @uga_dodd_art Dodd Chair and Athenaeum Support Funds. The presentation and new comission at the Visual Arts Center is supported by the Every Page Foundation. An exhibition catalogue will be forthcoming in 2027.

Ledbetter’s 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮-𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲) combines large format black-and-white photography, visual imagery, historical research, ephemera, and community engagement to shine a light on the complex overlapping histories at this abandoned potter’s field in Red Bank, Tennessee—a derelict municipal cemetery for the poor and dispossessed in operation from 1890-1912 on the outskirts of
Chattanooga.

If you want to learn more about 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙, we highly recommend
reading “Your Brother’s Blood” with words by @orioleintn and photographs by Ledbetter, published last year by @bittersoutherner! by @athenaeum_uga

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4 months ago

October at the Athenaeum! We have some great events coming up this month so please register on our Eventbrite page for free tickets, link in bio 🔗

Just a reminder, we are closed on the dates below for a home football game and fall break:
- October 17, 2026
- October 30, 2026

On view:
Erin Johnson: “The Measure Is Something Else”
Megan Ledbetter: “The Field (2022-2026)” by @athenaeum_uga

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8 days ago

Reviewed in Art in America:
Erin Johnson’s “The Measure Is Something Else”

“Heavy Water is on view in Erin Johnson’s survey at the University of Georgia’s Athenaeum in Athens, and like so many of the other works on view it is something of an essay film—yet one that does not didactically demystify the world, but rather renders it sensorial and strange.”
-Emily Watlington

Read at the link in our stories and bio!
@artinamerica
Thanks for your words and care @keys_wallet_phone ⚡️ by @athenaeum_uga

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14 days ago

Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to be a part of the 4 Minutes, 33 Seconds Contest! This live competition gives students an opportunity to win prizes and to share their creative research. The competition is an homage to John Cage’s landmark composition 4’33” and is open to any UGA undergraduate or graduate student working on an advanced research project related to the literary, visual or performing arts or artists.

To apply, visit the link in our bio or arts.uga.edu/433-contest/ to send in your application information by noon on October 23, 2026. On November 16 during UGA’s annual Spotlight on the Arts festival, finalists will present their research for exactly four minutes and thirty-three seconds. Awards include $433 for the grand prize winner and $150 for three runners-up. by @athenaeum_uga

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14 days ago

The Georgia Review and the Athenaeum present a reading with Julia Elliott and Joshua Garcia at the Athenaeum on October 23. The reading will be followed by a book sale by Rec Room Books and signing. Free and open to the public. The event is supported by the UGA English Department, the UGA Special Collections Library, and the UGA Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies. Join us! More information at the link in our bio. Announcement of a book reading and book signing with writers Julia Elliott and Joshua Garcia, hosted by The Georgia Review and The Athenaeum. Julia Elliott has medium auburn hair and is wearing a felt hat in front of a hedge holding a chicken. Joshua Garcia has dark hair and is wearing a black turtleneck and glasses in front of a white background. The reading will take place on October 23 at 6pm at the Athenaeum in Athens, Georgia. by @athenaeum_uga

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14 days ago

Megan Ledbetter has physically and conceptually waded into The Field’s deep kudzu on the site for many years now, both by conducting research to find its origin story and in photographing its contemporary presence and change throughout many seasons. This invasive planting has both protected the landscape’s fragile sloping geography and presented challenges to archaeology and current research being planned or undertaken underneath its cover.

Megan Ledbetter: The Field (2022-2026) is on view at the Athenaeum through November 21, 2026.

Photos: @meganledbetterphotography by @athenaeum_uga

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18 days ago

We have a new ticketing system at the Athenaeum! 🎟️

As always, we are free and open to the public, but we’d love it if you used our new sign up link to register for tickets prior to visiting. You can also do this once you get to the gallery with our QR code at the front desk.

Follow our Eventbrite for more updates and events!

Link in bio for tickets 🔗 by @athenaeum_uga

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a month ago

Thank you all for joining us to celebrate the opening of Erin Johnson: The Measure Is Something Else and Megan Ledbetter: The Field (2022-2026). We are open for our regular fall hours, Wednesday to Saturday, 12 to 6pm (note our closures pinned to this page).

Swing by with your friends and family! We’d love to see you this season 🍃

Photos by @sid.chansa by @athenaeum_uga

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a month ago

In Gallery 2, we are open for public hours for Megan Ledbetter’s
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 (2022-2026), a photographic series and growing body of contemporary research exploring and recognizing a potter’s field in Red Bank, Tennessee—a derelict municipal cemetery for the poor and dispossessed in operation from 1890-1912 on the outskirts of Chattanooga.

Ledbetter began researching the site in 2022 and photographing in 2023. Combining visual imagery, historical research and ephemera, and community engagement, Ledbetter’s work shines a light on the complex overlapping histories at this abandoned burial ground.

On view through Nov 21.
Photos: @thrasherphoto by @athenaeum_uga

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a month ago

Today we open for regular hours, Wed-Sat 12-6pm, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙄𝙨 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙀𝙡𝙨𝙚, the first survey of artist Erin Johnson, spanning nine key artworks made between 2011-2026.

Known for films and installations that examine the entanglements of ecology, scientific inquiry, and nationalism as well as forms of speculative storytelling and queer worldmaking, Johnson has over the past fifteen years developed a distinctive body of work that explores the institutions through which knowledge is produced and maintained.

The exhibition takes its title from one of Rachel Carson’s final letters to her lover Dorothy Freeman. Reflecting on her impending mortality using the life cycle of a monarch butterfly, Carson wrote: “For ourselves, the measure is something else, the span of which we cannot know.” Johnson similarly approaches the world with an attentiveness to uncertainty and unknowability, asking how systems designed to classify and contain knowledge can also obscure the immensity and complexity of the worlds they seek to describe.

On view through March 20, 2027.
Photos: @thrasherphoto by @athenaeum_uga

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a month ago

Opening today 4-6pm, Athenaeum!

Erin Johnson: The Measure Is Something Else
(Main gallery and media gallery)

Megan Ledbetter: The Field (2022-2026)
(Gallery 2)

Both artists will be in attendance!
@erin_johnson____ photo: @thrasherphotodesign
@meganledbetterphotography by @athenaeum_uga

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2 months ago