Hilliard Art Museum Announces Spring Awake 2026

LAFAYETTE, LA — This spring, the Hilliard Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette presents Spring Awake, a season of exhibitions and programming examining the legacy of Pop and its continued reverberations in contemporary visual culture. Opening to the public March 7, 2026, with a preview event on March 6th, the season brings into dialogue works by a leading figure in the 20th century pop art movement Andy Warhol from the museum’s permanent collection and contemporary artist Rachel Libeskind alongside the immersive installation Nervescape XI by Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter, currently on view.

Spring Awake also introduces Gulf Streams: Atchafalaya Remixed, opening on April 11, 2026, a multidisciplinary exhibition that extends the exploration of Pop strategies of sampling into the musical and ecological landscape of Louisiana. The exhibition draws from field recordings made in the Atchafalaya Basin by Dr. Earl Robicheaux and invites contemporary artists to reinterpret them through sound and image, reflecting on how the Basin is heard, felt, and continually remade.

“Spring Awake reflects our commitment to presenting globally relevant art that speaks to the world we live in,” said Molly Rowe, Executive Director of the Hilliard Art Museum. “These exhibitions invite our visitors, members, and UL Lafayette students to explore Pop sensibilities and image culture, encouraging everyone to see, feel, and think differently about the visual landscape that surrounds us.”

Andy Warhol: Plus One
Selections from the Hilliard Permanent Collection
March 7 – August 15, 2026

Plus 1 explores inner circles and the companions who share our most meaningful moments. Through intimate polaroids of Andy Warhol’s life, the exhibition reflects on the observational and sometimes voyeuristic nature of his world. On view from the Hilliard Art Museum’s permanent collection, a gift from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the exhibition asks how an added individual, such as a close partner, friend or a child, can alter the trajectory of one’s life.

Rachel Libeskind:
If There Be Nothing New, But That Which Is
March 7 – August 15, 2026

Based in New York and Berlin, multi-disciplinary artist Rachel Libeskind works in collage and printmaking, applying contemporary and historical imagery to deconstruct preconceived narratives and to construct new ones. Inspired by Jacques Lacan’s theories of visual culture, If There Be Nothing New, But That Which Is explores the depths of meaning and context an art object can hold both superficially and intrinsically.

Gulf Streams: Atchafalaya Remixed
April 11 – August 15, 2026

Gulf Streams: Atchafalaya Remixed, a multidisciplinary exhibit drawing from field recordings taken in the Atchafalaya Basin by Dr. Earl Robicheaux. The project invites contemporary musicians and visual artists to respond creatively to the sounds of the natural environment, reflecting on how the Basin is heard, felt and continually remade. Participating musicians Keith Frank, The Babineaux Sisters, Danny Devillier and Trey Boudreax present works as a soundscape to the exhibition alongside visual artists Claire Amy, Edgar Cano, Dan DiCaprio, Tanner Menard, Martin Payton, Olivia Perillo and Dr. Earl Robicheaux. Gulf Streams: Atchafalaya Remixed is organized by Dr. Gwennie von Einsiedel, the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair of Traditional Music at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter: Nervescape XI
On View through July 25, 2026

Born in Iceland and based in New York City, Arnardóttir creates immersive, hyper-colorized environments using textiles, fibers, and real and synthetic hair. Her work explores beauty, identity, consumerism, and excess, with both emotional intensity and playful humor. The result is an enveloping, sensory experience that is at-once stimulating and soothing—an ideal counterpoint to the season’s focus on spectacle and visual culture.

Spring Awake Opening Preview — March 6, 2026
An evening celebrating the new exhibitions, including an artist talk with Rachel Libeskind, a member preview, Hilliard After Hours, and more.

Hilliard Fête — April 11, 2026
Presented by Ochsner Lafayette General One Museum, One Day, Endless Exploration

PICNIC — May 3, 2026
An elegant outdoor fundraising event on the Hilliard Lawn

The Hilliard Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette presents exhibitions and programs that are regionally rooted and globally engaged, fostering the creative exchange of ideas and cross-disciplinary research rooted in the visual arts. Founded in 2004, the museum also preserves and advances scholarship on its 3,000+ piece permanent art collection, ranging from 17th-century landscapes to contemporary Louisiana photography. For more information, visit hilliardartmuseum.org.