Experience engaging contemporary art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. REWIND<<Fast/Forward features a series of immersive art installations from the performative to the cinematic. Coinciding with the museum’s current expansion project, REWIND<<Fast/Forward is designed to engage visitors with contemporary art experiences while the museum’s collection of mid to late 20th-century art are temporarily off view.
Like its predecessor —Fast Forward, which ran at VMFA from 1984 through 2002—REWIND<<Fast/Forward pushes the elasticity of genres and media to highlight artists working at intersecting disciplines. REWIND<<Fast/Forward is organized by Valerie Cassel Oliver, VMFA’s Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Upcoming Events
VOLUMES by Ezra Masch
May 15, 16, 17, 2025
Reynolds Lecture Hall
VOLUMES is an immersive audio-visual experience created by interdisciplinary artist Ezra Masch. The project uses technology and live sound from percussion instruments to activate a site-specific light sculpture. On each performance date, local percussionists will activate the installation, connecting sound, light, and space.
Please note: Tickets for this event are SOLD OUT
VOLUMES by Ezra Masch
Thursday, May 15, 2025
6:30–8 pm*
$15 ($12 VMFA members)
Reynolds Lecture Hall
SOLD OUT
*House opens for seating at 6 pm. Doors close at 6:30 pm for the first performance. Late entry is not permitted.
Brought to you by VMFA's immersive art series REWIND<< Fast/Forward and created by interdisciplinary artist Ezra Masch, VOLUMES is an immersive light installation activated by sound. Masch's installation at VMFA will feature locally based percussive artists from a variety of genres. Inspired by son et lumière (sound-and-light art events that date back to the early 1700s) Masch, now based in Austin, Texas, has traveled extensively presenting VOLUMES, an installation that sits at the broad intersections of synesthesia, architecture and technology.
Now in its 10th iteration, VOLUMES will transform the Reynold's Lecture Hall into a site-specific light installation activated by live percussive sound. Participating musicians will explore the connection between sound, light, technology, and space through live performance and Masch’s state-of-the-art drum software system.
Activation Times and Participating Musicians:
6:30 pm - Kelli Strawbridge
7:00 pm - Dusty Ray Simmons
7:30 pm - JoVia Armstrong
Know Before You Go:
• This exhibition contains rapidly changing light levels, including blinking or flashing lights, for the duration of each performance.
• Seating is limited to benches and floor cushions. There is no standing room. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.
• Viewers should plan to remain seated for the duration of the event. There is no intermission.
• Late entry is not permitted. Please allow ample time for arrival.
• Staff will be available for assistance during the performance. If you have questions in advance, please email Visitor Services at info@vmfa.museum.
_____________________________________________
Installation Photography by Ezra Masch
VOLUMES by Ezra Masch
Friday, May 16, 2025
6:30–8 pm*
$15 ($12 VMFA members)
Reynolds Lecture Hall
SOLD OUT
*House opens for seating at 6 pm. Doors close at 6:30 pm for the first performance. Late entry is not permitted.
Brought to you by VMFA's immersive art series REWIND<< Fast/Forward and created by interdisciplinary artist Ezra Masch, VOLUMES is an immersive light installation activated by sound. Masch's installation at VMFA will feature locally based percussive artists from a variety of genres. Inspired by son et lumière (sound-and-light art events that date back to the early 1700s) Masch, now based in Austin, Texas, has traveled extensively presenting VOLUMES, an installation that sits at the broad intersections of synesthesia, architecture and technology.
Now in its 10th iteration, VOLUMES will transform the Reynold's Lecture Hall into a site-specific light installation activated by live percussive sound. Participating musicians will explore the connection between sound, light, technology, and space through live performance and Masch’s state-of-the-art drum software system.
Activation Times and Participating Musicians:
6:30 pm - Stephan LaRue
7:00 pm - Ethan Johnstone
7:30 pm - Billy Williams
Know Before You Go:
• This exhibition contains rapidly changing light levels, including blinking or flashing lights, for the duration of each performance.
• Seating is limited to benches and floor cushions. There is no standing room. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.
• Viewers should plan to remain seated for the duration of the event. There is no intermission.
• Late entry is not permitted. Please allow ample time for arrival.
• Staff will be available for assistance during the performance. If you have questions in advance, please email Visitor Services at info@vmfa.museum.
_____________________________________________
Installation Photography by Ezra Masch
VOLUMES by Ezra Masch
Saturday, May 17, 2025
1:30–3:30 pm*
$15 ($12 VMFA members)
Reynolds Lecture Hall
SOLD OUT
*House opens for seating at 1 pm. Doors close at 1:30 pm for the first performance. Late entry is not permitted.
Brought to you by VMFA's immersive art series REWIND<< Fast/Forward and created by interdisciplinary artist Ezra Masch, VOLUMES is an immersive light installation activated by sound. Masch's installation at VMFA will feature locally based percussive artists from a variety of genres. Inspired by son et lumière (sound-and-light art events that date back to the early 1700s) Masch, now based in Austin, Texas, has traveled extensively presenting VOLUMES, an installation that sits at the broad intersections of synesthesia, architecture and technology.
Now in its 10th iteration, VOLUMES will transform the Reynold's Lecture Hall into a site-specific light installation activated by live percussive sound. Participating musicians will explore the connection between sound, light, technology, and space through live performance and Masch’s state-of-the-art drum software system.
Activation Times and Participating Musicians:
1:30 pm - Kurt Patterson
Break at 2 pm
2:10 pm - Rei Alverez & Giustino Riccio
Break at 2:50 pm
3:00 pm - Nate Smith
Know Before You Go:
• This exhibition contains rapidly changing light levels, including blinking or flashing lights, for the duration of each performance.
• Seating is limited to benches and floor cushions. There is no standing room. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.
• Viewers should plan to remain seated for the duration of the event. There is no intermission.
• Late entry is not permitted. Please allow ample time for arrival.
• Staff will be available for assistance during the performance. If you have questions in advance, please email Visitor Services at info@vmfa.museum.
_____________________________________________
Installation Photography by Ezra Masch
Ellen Fullman and JACK Quartet
Coming in 2026
Cochrane Atrium
This evening concert will feature Ellen Fullman performing on her iconic Long String Instrument and accompanied by the New York–based JACK Quartet. As the closing program for the exhibition Robert Rauschenberg: Cardbirds, Fullman will debut a VMFA-commissioned composition celebrating Rauschenberg’s practice as a groundbreaking artist who experimented with movement and material. The commission and exhibition, on the advent of the artist’s centennial celebration, are sponsored by a grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Jason Moran
Coming in 2027
Cochrane Atrium
The VMFA recently acquired STAGED: Three Deuces by musician, composer, and visual artist Jason Moran. In this architectural reimagining of the historic jazz venue, Moran acknowledges the power of jazz lore, and the shifting social and political realities that shaped the genre. At a time when the popularity of jazz reached its peak in New York City, venues like Three Deuces were systematically destroyed by development and urban renewal. The devasting effects for the jazz world was the loss of historic venues that continue to inspire new generations of musicians. Designed to reimagine the club’s cramped stage, Moran has “restaged” the architecture replete with a piano, upright bass, and drum kit. While not being activated through live performance, the Spiro piano will play with Moran’s prerecorded performances from the swinging jazz song books played throughout the North as well as prison work songs from the same era associated with the South to shed light on the complexity of Black life in America during this era.