Image: Nasher Museum of Art, London
The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is presenting ‘Everything Now All At Once,’ an exhibition drawn from its contemporary collection and on view through November 1, 2026. The exhibition, which opened on August 21, 2025, marks the museum’s twentieth anniversary by bringing together works acquired over two decades, including recent additions and pieces that have not previously been shown at the museum.
Located in Durham, North Carolina, the Nasher Museum has built its contemporary collection since 2005 with a stated focus on amplifying underrepresented voices. The exhibition brings together artists based in North Carolina as well as national and international figures, reflecting the institution’s effort to connect its local setting with a broader contemporary art landscape. The museum describes the collection as a visual “mixtape,” with the sequence and relationships between works shaping the experience as much as the individual objects.
Among the artists represented are Nina Chanel Abney, Ai Weiwei, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Firelei Báez, Radcliffe Bailey, Kevin Beasley, Amoako Boafo, Nick Cave, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Noah Davis, Jadé Fadojutimi, Jeffrey Gibson, Sam Gilliam, Glenn Ligon, Wangechi Mutu, Amy Sherald, Henry Taylor, Mickalene Thomas and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. The selection spans painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media and lightbox works, presenting different approaches to questions of identity, history, representation and lived experience.
The display includes Barkley L. Hendricks’s ‘Bahsir (Robert Gowens)’ (1975), an oil and acrylic portrait from the museum’s collection, and Mickalene Thomas’s ‘Lovely Six Foota’ (2007), a C-print depicting a figure in a carefully constructed period setting. Other featured works include Jeffrey Gibson’s ‘I PUT A SPELL ON YOU’ (2015), a repurposed punching bag incorporating glass beads, artificial sinew and steel; Barbara Chase-Riboud’s ‘Malcolm X #5’ (2003), made from polished bronze, silk and steel; and Radcliffe Bailey’s mixed-media work ‘Levitate’ (2012).
The exhibition also foregrounds the museum’s recent collecting activity. The Nasher says that some acquisitions made during the past 20 years are being shown for the first time, while works were rotated into the exhibition in June 2026 to provide new perspectives on the collection. The approach links the anniversary presentation to the institution’s continuing acquisitions programme, which it says prioritizes artists historically undervalued, supports artists’ career growth through commissioned works and seeks to acquire work at defining moments in an artist’s career.
‘Everything Now All At Once’ is organized by Xuxa Rodríguez, the Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art, with support from Julianne Miao, curatorial associate. The exhibition is supported by the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Fund for Exhibitions and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and remains on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, 2001 Campus Drive, Durham, until November 1, 2026.
