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Experience VCUarts’ latest exhibition

Encounter the obscure + challenge the mundane at this boundary-pushing exhibit.

Two people work together with a printed art project.

View works created across six VCUarts departments. | Aya Khalife, Buried in Pixels, 2024-2025, in progress installation view, 2025 VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition. (artwork © Aya Khalife; photograph by Ella Lowrey)

More than 25 artists and designers. Two years of intensive research and work. One immersive, boundary-pushing exhibit.

The VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition is now on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art and The Anderson. It’s dynamic, cutting-edge, and delightfully perplexing — and we highly recommend you make the trip.

Whether you’re a finely-tuned art connoisseur or simply appreciate conversation about the human experience, you’re sure to find something that piques your interest.

A painting from the MFA thesis exhibit depicting a bay and two cat with text reading, "emotional state shifter."

The exhibit spans three floors at the ICA. | Alex K. Bacon, Timeout, 2025, in progress installation view, 2025 VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition. (artwork © Alex K. Bacon; photograph by Ella Lowrey)

We visited the ICA on West Broad Street — RVA’s most space-station-like building — to get a firsthand look. One tip we’ll give you: not every HVAC system is what it seems.

Expect the unexpected

A few things you may encounter:

  • Experiments with sound, tech, texture, video, and more
  • Stacks of money — whether real or not is for you to find out
  • A computer room scene channeling the nostalgia of the early 2000s
  • A lengthy car manual that’s not what it seems
  • Interactive virtual reality — a coveted opportunity to actually touch the art (and even become a part of it)

...and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Head to the ICA or The Anderson now through Sunday, May 11, to see the exhibit for yourself, totally free.

A wooden grid-like sculpture emerges from a skylight window.

Art can be found from the floor to the ceiling — even around benches in the lobby. |
August Neuscheler, Scaled Sherd, 2025, in progress installation view, 2025 VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition. (artwork © August Neuscheler; photograph by Ella Lowrey)

ICA, 601 W. Broad St.
Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The Anderson, 907 1/2 W. Franklin St.
Tuesday-Friday, 12-6 p.m. and Saturday, 12-5 p.m.

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