About the Exhibition

In celebration of Wide Awakes Day, 21c Museum Hotel Kansas City partnered with artists/curators Michele Pred and Dwight Smith to organize the exhibition Wide Awakes: Eyes Open. This exhibition includes work by eleven artists from across the coutry whose works call for a future of radical love and democracy: Nedra Bonds, Autumn Breon, Summer Brooks, Wildcat Ebony Brown, Mona Cliff, Michelle Hartney, Shireen Liane, Yvette Molina, Michele Pred, Lisa Marie Thalhammer, and Sara Sonie Joi Thompson-Ruffin.

The term, Wide Awakes, comes from the 1860’s grassroots political movement that supported abolition and the election of Abraham Lincoln. The group disseminated texts, wrote songs, created powerful visuals, and marched carrying lanterns and wearing capes, all in the fight for emancipation. Today, The Wide Awakes are an open-source network who active and radically reimagine the future through collective action, creative collaboration, and the liberation of mind, body, and spirit. Anyone can be a Wide Awake. Ask questions, open your eyes, and jump in!

This exhibition is located on our second floor galleries and is open to the public. To schedule a tour or for information on specific artworks, contact the Museum Manager, Jori at jcheville@21cmuseum.org. To learn more about Wide Awakes’ national initiative, visit www.wideawakes.com.