On April 18th, all three floors at SoMad will be activated with 5 performances, works by 21 visual artists, 9 experimental films, 5 video installations, a sustainable marketplace, vegan cuisine and beverages. This year’s exhibition spans the globe in its scope, altogether illustrating the interconnectedness of all living things and the struggles we each face as we share this experience of life on Earth.

Grounded in the framework of Intersectional Environmentalism, the curation refuses to separate issues of social justice from concerns of environmental collapse. The exhibition draws from the  writings of Kimberlé Crenshaw, the Combahee River Collective, and Leah Thomas, among other sources of Black feminist thought, Mad World questions environmentalism as it is conceived in institutional and mainstream society, recognizing that environmental injustices and social inequalities are interconnected and disproportionately affect oppressed communities. 

The selected group of artists presents works that directly challenge the systems that oppress us and our environment. Their practices engage with themes including colonialism, development, migration, stress, disability justice, and afro-surrealism. The open call format reinforces our commitment to accessibility and community-building for emerging and experimental practices, and attracted over 640 submissions from 49 countries.

The show’s name comes from a line in Joy Priest’s poem “A Personal History of Breathing,” a devastating and beautiful exploration of how environmental racism impacts communities. In response to our collective anxiety, we seek to imagine alternative systems of care, emphasize a return to ancestral practice, and inspire cultural action.

Among the featured works is Thank You, Come Again, an interactive community-made weaving project by Resident artist Regan de Loggans. Using reclaimed police barricades, de Loggans will build a large-scale loom, representing the violent legacy of policing of immigrant peoples, to weave a plastic bandera (flag) from community-sourced bags. Visitors are invited to contribute clean plastic bags at SoMad (34 East 23rd Street, #4), during Mad World, and Monday-Friday, 12 PM–6PM, and take home a packet of wildflower seeds in exchange.

A Bag to Breathe Into will feature performances throughout the 2nd and 3rd floor including historian-meets-drag artist Esther; the trio of alyxåndra ciale, Gia Abucejo, and Benja August; multidisciplinary drag cryptid Linda Felcher; performance artist Natacha Voliakovsky Rosado; and the colorful, emotive drag stylings of Dollar Slice. 

Performance Lineup:

• 3pm: Natacha Voliakovsky Rosado
• 5pm: Linda Felcher & Dollar Slice
• 8pm: Esther the Bipedal Entity, alyxåndra ciale, Gia Abucejo, and Benja August

Mad World 2026 includes a program of nine experimental films, screened on a continuous loop: Alexandra Kumala’s "Notes from Silences," Lilian C. Scheur’s "(null)," Anxious to Make’s (Liat Berdugo and Emily Martinez) "The Insufferable Whiteness of Being," Karl Kaisel’s "Exquisite Corpse," Jihyun Lee’s "Sebastian," Aya Bundurakis’s Egging, Máte Vargas’s "Someday it Will Fall," Vardit Goldner’s "Swimming Lesson," and Leah Byck’s "To Know Me Is To Know You." 

The second floor features three video installations: Mona Okulla Obua's YAO, a multi-channel, site-responsive work tracing the artist's biracial heritage through the story of the Northern Ugandan Shea Tree as a symbol of intergenerational memory and cultural resilience; Zain Alam's Meter & Light: Day, an inquiry into the rhythmic and spiritual measures of time as lived by Muslims; and Maya Nguyen's Rock Work, a playful, non-permanent intervention documenting the artist's act of covering a natural rock formation in Southwest Finland with pop rocks.

On the third floor, Anna Dossmann and Sam Nguyen-Jones each present single-channel videos. Dossmann's Wildlife Leaflets uses collage and digital editing to challenge heteronormative frameworks in scientific and media discourse, imagining inter-species alliances from a queer perspective. Nguyen-Jones's Golf Course reflects on landscape as film stage, drawing on the buried ancient cities of Kaifeng, China to meditate on how framing a space inevitably changes it.

Mad World's 2026 Visual Arts Exhibition showcases photography, installation, drawing, painting, sculpture, textile, and both cross- and anti-disciplinary works. The exhibiting artists are Lauren Skelly Bailey, Faith Brown, Kelly Clare, Regan de Loggans, Leo de Paula, Amber Doe, Onaje Grant-Simmonds, Jiayi Gu, Melonie Knight, Keith Lafuente, Yutong Leah Liu, Meicen Meng, Andrew Ordonez, Abdel Karim Ougri, Zulu Padilla, Perry Picasshoe, María-Elena Pombo, Untitled Queen, Rachel Rampleman, Eleanor Mahin Thorp, kathy wu, and Nadia Younes. Fine art will be available for purchase.

Join us for live performances, experimental films, fine art on display, video installation, food, drinks, handmade clothing, and art books. GA/Sliding Scale Tickets; all are welcome, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. The exhibition opens Saturday, April 18, 2026, from 12–10 PM, and remains on view through June 15th, 2026.