Prologue
Columbus Museum of Art at The Pizzuti
Admission Information
Prologue is a pop-up installation and event series at Columbus Museum of Art at The Pizzuti
Prologue is open during special events and by appointment for tour groups.
Program Description
A pop-up installation and event series at The Pizzuti, Prologue looks back to the historical origins of CMA’s satellite location at 632 Park Street.
From 1923 to 2011, the Pizzuti building served as the national headquarters of the Order of United Commercial Travelers of America (UCT), a fraternal society and insurance provider for traveling salespeople. Founded in 1888, UCT catered to a subset of retail professionals widely distrusted by consumers, and whose door-to-door solicitations foreshadowed the porosity of private life to commercial interests. Taking the now-defunct company’s history as a starting point, Prologue places UCT-related archival materials and historical artifacts in dialogue with works by modern and contemporary artists, including a selection from the museum’s permanent collection. Installed in the second-floor galleries, these works illuminate the role of artists as persuasion agents and uninvited interlopers, while also exposing the thin boundary between public and private space.
This installation forms the groundwork for a series of public events organized in collaboration with The Ohio State University and presented with generous support from OSU’s Office of Academic Affairs.
Featured Prologue artists include:
Lee Friedlander*
David L. Johnson
Dionne Lee
Jack Manning*
Elijah Pierce*
Alison Saar*
Julia Scher
Tavares Strachan*
Ryan Trecartin
Julia Weist
*Artists in the CMA permanent collection
Prologue Launch Party
December 13, 6:30–10:00 PM
Join CMA at The Pizzuti for the launch of Prologue, a new program series engaging the past and future of CMA’s satellite location at 632 Park Street. This launch party offers visitors a sneak peek into The Pizzuti, where a new pop-up installation engages the building’s history as the former headquarters of a fraternal society that catered to traveling salespeople. The evening opens with a conversation at 7:00 PM between CMA curator Daniel Marcus and fraternal archivist Heather K. Calloway.
From 8:00–10:00 PM, come out for Errant Forms X Nesting, a DJ series curated by Love Higher (Reg Zehner) featuring Chris McKee and tonedeft playing back-to-back. Cash bar sponsored by Watershed Distillery.
This event is free with registration. The curator conversation registration includes access to the Errant Forms X Nesting DJ series.
Errant Forms X Nesting DJ Series
Prologue Launch Party Lineup
SPEAKERS
Heather K. Calloway is Executive Director of University Collections at Indiana University and founder of the IU Center for Fraternal Collections and Research. She is preparing an exhibition of archival materials from the United Commercial Travelers, the fraternal organization that formerly occupied CMA’s satellite location at 632 Park Street.
DJS
Curator of Errant Forms: Love Higher
Host of Nesting: Skylab Gallery
Residing between Ohio and New Jersey, Love Higher is a dynamic DJ and producer with an eclectic range that spans footwork, afro-funky, gqom, techno, club and beyond. Having grown in the Ohio/Midwest nightlife scene, Love Higher’s beginning started with Verge.fm, an internet radio station that ran from 2020-2022. As a member of Blessed Up Gang, a Black DJ collective rooted in Ohio, as well as Errant Forms (OH), Club Hysteria (NJ), a global club collective and SLICK DOWN (NYC), their influence in organizing various panels, workshops and party series stretch far and wide. They have DJ mixes released on pivotal series such as JEROME Mixfiles, BLUSH, Daisychain, and Somersault Records. In June they released their first original EP, “An Ode To..,” a cross-section between club, and techno. You can find their music on their bandcamp and soundcloud.
tonedeft is one of Columbus’ beloved DJs, known for their impeccable taste and curated sets that promise intrigue and sexiness. Their support in the scene is felt throughout their work at Skylab Gallery and being a phenomenal dancer.
tonedeft’s DJ interest in music is meant for the late-nighters, the ones who don’t want to go home. We highly encourage to be front row when they plug in.
Chris McKee is a DJ from Columbus OH. He has been active in the city’s dance music scene since the late ‘00’s and held residencies at some of its most notorious parties like Tiff, Fever, and Sissy Bar.
Known for combining the iconic sounds of queer club history, hidden gems from Chicago’s southside and Midwest Techno obscurities, with modern productions, he delivers memorable sets laced with love letters to the divas, djs, and ravers that came before him.
Tavares Strachan, Encyclopedia of Invisibility (Pocket Guide), 2024. Leather, gilding, archival paper, lucite box and stand. Image courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.
