Image: Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix
Phoenix Art Museum will open 'Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography' on August 1, 2026, presenting nearly 100 works from the Center for Creative Photography’s collection in Tucson. The exhibition remains on view through January 3, 2027, in the Norton Photography Gallery, and the museum will mark the opening with First Friday activities on August 7.
According to the museum, 'Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography' explores how photography transforms the way viewers see and reshapes ideas about time, perception and reality. The exhibition is co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography, and it celebrates the 20-year anniversary of the landmark Norton agreement between the two institutions. The show is curated by Emilia Mickevicius, PhD, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography.
The exhibition spans the medium’s history from the 1860s to the present and places particular emphasis on early 20th-century works, especially quirky and whimsical still lifes. Phoenix Art Museum says the installation is organized into four thematic sections that look at photography’s relationship to time and vision through flash photography, time-lapse imagery, astronomical photographs and contemporary conceptual work. The museum describes the selection as a kind of cabinet of curiosities, highlighting photography’s capacity for experimentation and visual transformation.
Among the works referenced in the museum’s exhibition materials are images by Edward Henry Weston, Harold Edgerton, Chris McCaw and Kikuji Kawada. The exhibition text also notes that photographs can reveal, transform and defamiliarize their subjects, extending the idea of photography beyond straightforward human vision. The presentation draws on the breadth of the CCP collection, including canonical figures, process-based experiments and images with puzzling or playful subject matter.
The museum will celebrate the opening during its First Friday event on August 7 from 5 to 8 pm, with hands-on activities tied to the exhibition’s photo theme. Planned offerings include aura photography with Cosmic Hour, scrapbooking with Scrap Bar, an alternative process photo booth with Home 44, and cyanotype bookmarks with Phoenix Film Revival, along with food from El Fogón De Joy and music by DJ Zenas. The museum notes that aura photography is offered directly through Cosmic Hour at the guest’s cost.
The exhibition is also part of a fuller August schedule at Phoenix Art Museum that includes 'Summer with Sissy Art,' 'CATVIDEOFEST 2026,' 'Kids Day' on August 9, and the 'Summer Symphony Series.' For the exhibition itself, the museum states that 'Ecstatic Time: The Alchemy of Photography' is located in the Norton Photography Gallery and runs through January 3, 2027.
