Visual Studies Workshop

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Visual Studies Workshop

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https://vimeo.com/visualstudiesworkshop
https://ehive.com/collections/3931/visual-studies-workshop

VSW nurtures expansive and experimental approaches to photography, film and media arts and builds community among artists and the public through exhibitions, publications and artist residencies.

10/09/2026

Between Pulse and Stasis: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16th 6-9pm
How can word and image redefine the limits of film form? OnFilm, in collaboration with the Visual Studies Workshop, invites you to this showcasing of works by Toshio Matsumoto and Takashi Ito.
This selection of nine films presents a comprehensive - but by no means exhaustive- series of formal meditations on the material and psychic boundaries of the moving image.

Join us for the second screening of OnFilm’s two-part series on Japanese experimental cinema as we close out our selection of films by Toshio Matsumoto and Takashi Ito in collaboration with VSW.

Stills from left to right Ghost (Takashi Ito, 1985); Shift (Toshio Matsumoto, 1982); Relation (Toshio Matsumoto, 1982); Thunder (Takashi Ito, 1982)

Our hope is to present a very specific historiography of Japanese experimental cinema through two figures whose personal and artistic contributions to the medium are as significant as they are imbricated. From Matsumoto’s early reconfigurations of material structures through digital representations of procedural movement to Ito’s chaotically animated procession of still-photographs set against a glitzy pastiche of abstractions, these works invite the viewer to consider the affective and perceptual limits of visual space.

10/07/2026

Did you know? The VSW Theater is available for rental for your next presentation, gathering or screening! 🎞️

Swipe through for more information and check the link in our bio for our rental policy. Any other inquiries regarding theater rental can be forwarded to [email protected]

10/01/2026

Thursday October 8, 6-9pm | Open Studio with Project Space Resident Sabine Gruffat

(In conjunction with Monster in Me: Films by Cecelia Condit)

Sabine Gruffat (FR) works in digital art, media installation, and cinema. During her residency, Sabine will be working on an ongoing series of videos that challenge emerging technologies and their effect on a viewer’s body and perception. Sabine will be using VSW’s film and video archive as research material and her work will include a conversation with a practitioner of healing touch.

Sabine Gruffat is a French-American artist born in Bangkok, Thailand. She co-founded and co-programs the Cosmic Rays Film Festival in Chapel Hill, NC with filmmaker Bill Brown. Currently she lives in Marseille, France. Sabine Gruffat works on experimental and essay forms and exhibits her work as installations, performances, and single-channel screenings. By actively engaging with both current and outmoded technology, Gruffat ’s work questions our standardized and mediated world.

On October 8 at 6pm, Gruffat will open her studio for visitors to learn more about her new and recent work and practice.

[Pictured: Still from Souvenir Statuette, Sabine Gruffat, 2024]

09/30/2026

One of the lots in this year’s Live Auction is The 1st VSW Rip-Off Show Sample Set which consists of 20 pads of offset lithograph prints by 20 artists, which were meant to be removed and taken at will by the renting gallery’s viewers.

From the colophon: “This folder contains a sample copy of our first offset rip-off show. This is a one way traveling exhibition; no return postage, no crates, no frames or glass. The exhibition consists of pads of each of the prints included here to hang on the wall and distribute in any way the exhibitor chooses. The show exists in an edition of twenty copies...We feel that these pieces are a step toward realizing the potentials of offset lithography as an original printmaking media, rather than a means of reproducing work. ”

The participating artists in this exhibition were Michael Bishop, Leif Brush, Eileen Cowin, Robert Fichter, Robert Heinecken, Scott Hyde, Syl Labrot, Joan Lyons, Cynthia Marsh, Bea Nettles, Tony Petracca, Sonia Sheridan, Keith Smith, Harland Snodgrass, Michael Sowden, Joel Swartz, Charles Swedland, Todd Walker, Barbara Wilson and John Wood.

Swipe through to see some of VSW history that’s up for auction and check the link in our bio to make your bids now!

Eileen Cowin

Robert Fichter

Joan Lyons

Robert Heineken

Bea Nettles

Barbara Wilson

Sonia Sheridan

Michael Sowden

09/26/2026

VSW SCREENING: Cecilia Condit | Thurs. Oct. 7th 7pm

VSW is excited to present a screening of works from across the career of video artist Cecilia Condit. Her experimental videos are deeply personal, dense with texture, and threaded with wry humor as they explore themes of feminist horror. These videos connect surreal dream spaces to the real, waking world, commenting on everyday cycles of violence.

Condit’s 1983 video Possibly in Michigan recently received a wide recirculation on social media, inspiring new audiences to engage with her unique blend of visceral terror and resilient humor.
Condit will be present for conversation after the screening, which will include her most recent video, Monster in Me.
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Visual Studies Workshop program funders include The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, The Joy of Giving Something Foundation, the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Monroe County, NY, and all of our members and individual supporters!

09/25/2026

Alongside our silent auction, we’ll also be holding a live auction featuring additional works for sale during the Gala October 3rd! Swipe through to see the amazing works that could be yours!

[Pictured: Dawoud Bey (American, b.1953), A Young Man with His Hair Brush, Rochester, NY, 1989 / printed 2021, Gelatin silver print ]

Online bidding for these works also starts 9/25/26 (today) but once the live auction begins on October 3rd, if you’re not in person you can still send an online form with a maximum bid and win from afar! Items in the live auction will be closed for ONLINE bidding at 5pm. For more information and to start bidding, check the link in our bio!

And thank you again to the Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, M&T Bank, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, Keith Smith Books, Cottone Auctions, Lumiere, Frontier Abstract, Robert and Rae Gilson, George Eastman Museum, James Bearden, Elizabeth Alpert and Nancy Rosin

VSW programs are supported by in part by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, NYSCA and The Andy Warhol Foundation

Lot 4: Louis Chavez, Untitled (from the series “New Intimacies”)

Lot 6: John Wood, Untitled from Portfolio of Offset Lithographs - VSW, 1980

Lot 5: Nathan Lyons, Untitled (diptych, Mexico City)

Lot 7: Extraordinary Historical Portfolio: 1st VSW Rip-Off Show Sample Set (Robert Heineken, Bea Nettles, John Wood, and more)

Lot 8: Bonnie Gordon, Stretching in & Spreading Out, 1975

Lot 10: NASA, two Untitled images from the Apollo 15 mission

Lot 2: Joan Lyons, Untitled from “Land(landscape)Scape” series

Lot 1: Alfred Stieglitz, A Dirigible, 1910

Lot 3: Dawoud Bey, A Young Man with His Hair Brush, Rochester, NY, 1989

09/24/2026

On October 3 in addition to our other Gala festivities, we’ll be holding an auction featuring local Rochester artists and VSW alumni! Proceeds from the auctions support VSW’s community arts programming which furthers our vision for a society that values the human need to create and share ideas.

For the silent auction you can bid online starting 9/25/26. The auction ends at 8:30pm on October 3, 2026. You can bid and win online from VSW or anywhere in the world.

Check the link in our bio for more information and swipe through for a preview of some of the amazing work that’s up for grabs!
lumiere ❤️our framing partner

And thank you to the Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, Keith Smith Books, Cottone Auctions, Lumiere, Frontier Abstract, Robert and Rae Gilson, George Eastman Museum, James Bearden, Elizabeth Alpert and Nancy Rosin

VSW programs are supported by in part by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, NYSCA and The Andy Warhol Foundation

[Pictured: Nick Marshall (American, b.), Screen / Time, 2019, Silver gelatin lumen print ]

(Lot 13) Mary Rouse, 3 Untitled Works

(Lot 20) Colleen Buzzard, Untitled (DNA film in black scaffolding)

(Lot 16) Jasna Bogdanovska, Nebula, 2026

(Lot 12) Alec Soth, Leech Lake, 2007

(Lot 25) Ellsworth Tripp, Marylin Monroe

(Lot 17) Boo Poulin, Sterling Silver and Lava Stone Necklace

(Lot 15) Scott McCarney, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, 1999

(Lot 27) Untitled Snapshot (Gymnasts), c.1930

(Lot 11) William Wegman, Flora and Fauna, 1987

(Lot 24) Nick Marshall, Screen / Time, 2019

09/23/2026

Join us in celebrating Dawoud Bey at Visual Studies Workshop Oct 3!

VSW is honored to welcome visionary photographer, educator, and MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey back to Rochester for a special evening of celebration. Bey’s ties to the Workshop date to 1989, when he continued his celebrated Street Portrait series during an artist residency, capturing compelling images of Rochesterians as part of this landmark series. Bey will be in conversation with VSW curator Hernease Davis on Sunday, October 4th at 2pm. Limited tickets to the gala are still available through the link in the bio. Tickets to the talk are sold out.

Portrait of Dawoud Bey by Frank Ishman
Nathan Lyons and Dawoud Bey at VSW, 1989

Thank you to the Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, Keith Smith Books, Cottone Auctions, Lumiere, Frontier Abstract, Robert and Rae Gilson, James Bearden, Elizabeth Alpert and Nancy Rosin

VSW programs are supported by in part by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, NYSCA and The Andy Warhol Foundation

Address

36 King Street
Rochester, NY
14608

Website

http://vsw.org/

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