Exciting Update: Our Art Center Has Found a Temporary Home!

ECOCA is moving!

After many inspiring years in our beloved Trumbull Street home, we’re excited to share that the Ely Center of Contemporary Art (ECOCA) is moving to a temporary space at CitySeed as we continue our search for a permanent home.

We’re deeply grateful for the time spent in our historic building, a cornerstone of New Haven’s cultural landscape since 1962.
(Learn more about its remarkable history here.)

We look forward to welcoming you to CitySeed and continuing to connect artists and community through contemporary art.

The Ely Center will move and gallery prep Dec 19-Jan 31 and will re-open with new exhibitions from our Keyhole Workspace Artists in Residence February 1, 2026 at 162 James Street.

OPENING SUNDAY

Unfolding between walls is a farewell to the building, and a hello to the next chapter for the Ely Center of Contemporary Art. Over 70 local (New Haven and CT) artists were invited to include small works that touch upon the idea of change for this salon style exhibition curated by Kim Weston and Aimée Burg. This is a collaboration between old and new friends of this building. These artists include photographer Marjorie Wolfe who took art lessons in the basement of 51 Trumbull back in the early 1960’s, Anna Bresnick who curated in the building when it was still the John Slade Ely House, and Ross Dener, a Maine-based artist with roots in CT portraying the rapidly changing American landscape and its attendant implications for lives of those within it. These artists represent our commitment to honoring our past while preparing for a new beginning.

Kwadwo Adae Kelsey Archbold Mahsa Attaran Brock Bowen Rosa Bozhkov Marquis Brantley Sr. Jay Bright Anna Broell Bresnick Joy Bush Jennifer Cadoff Noa Cancelmo Leah Caroline Liz Celotto Junior Charles Odette Chavez-Mayo Susan Clinard Maura O Connor Christian Crowley Phyllis Crowley Christian Curiel Amartya De Ross Dener Vincent Dion Dooley O Madeline Eldridge Camilla Fallon Avery Fazio Dan Gries Eddie Hall Luke and Mistina Hanscom Charlotte Hecht Shaunda Holloway JAHMANE Noé Jiminez Katie Jurkiewicz Helen Kauder Lisa Kereszi Rui Kez Jennifer Knaus DAVID KUEHLER Marcy LaBella Lucy Le Bohec Parker Lee Linda Lindroth Zach Lytle Linda Mickens Christian Miller Maria Morabito Ken Morgan Aisha Nailah Nyemer Moshopefoluwa Olagunju Miller Opie Adrian Panaitisor Alison Pasquini Jonathan Peterson Raymond Pinto Caleb & Felix Portfolio Cynthia Beth Rubin Gerald Saladyga Roxy Savage Erik Schoonebeek NOIZ SIN Erin Koch Smith Sydney Smith Remy Sosa Paul Theriault monica tiulescu Lydia Viscardi John Frederick Walker Jamia Weir Yves François Wilson Marjorie Gillette Wolfe Kit Young

If the blocked artist were free, would the world breathe easier? is an experimental installation based on the work of Henry Darger, created by artist Danielle Giroux. Through innovative use of found objects, VR headsets and tactile elements, this exhibit guides the viewer through a series of short, immersive narratives. “Ito Meikyu” invokes Japanese art and literature to create a virtual interactive, wandering space composed of plants, animals, objects, people and calligraphy for the viewer to explore, choose, and contemplate the meaning of choice in our lives. “Rockey” takes the viewer into the life of an unhoused woman on the day she and her community are ousted from their makeshift homes in a city park. Photos, music, and psychedelic animations tell a story of privation, despair, and hope while inviting us into the inner richness of some of society’s most vulnerable members.

Artist Talk December 7, 2pm
Jihyun Lee in discussion with Cat Balco about Interstice

Interstice is a solo exhibition of new work created in response to the galleries at 51 Trumbull by artist Jihyun Lee. A New Haven-based multidisciplinary artist, Lee’s work explores the liminal spaces between moments and the memories they eventually become – the vacuum where all times occurs and yet cannot last. What conceptual possibilities are to be found in these gaps? How might a person make meaning that lasts from a moment which cannot? How can art be used to express the neverending flow of time through our lives? This exhibit explores these essential questions through a series of paintings that invoke Medieval manuscript culture. The “Folded Hours” series reimagines the famed Spinola Book of Hours through folded time and layered memories in order to challenge us to consider our own, unceasing travail through time, place, and memory.

A Rare Look From Some Old Red Oak is an entryway installation by multidisciplinary artist Jillian Shea. With a primary focus in botanical sculpture and collage, her work places emphasis on reimagining and repurposing invasive species, recycled materials and locally grown floral matter to create immersive installations. Inspired by the Trickster role as a boundary crosser in mythology, her work enjoys combining unexpected elements and taking materials out of context to crack open new possibilities.

“There is a lot to keep track of, and a lot to do, but at least one of those things could be sending a wish for humanity to the wind.” -Shea

Vani Bhushan is an Indian photographer based in New Delhi and New Haven, CT. Her work draws upon a constellation of materials spanning 19th-travel diaries and photographic albums which construct colonial visions of “the Orient.” In this exhibit, Bhushan employs layered representations – from early ethnographic imagery to self-narration of the diaspora – to reflect on the constantly evolving experience of South Asian communities in America throughout history.

Refreshments for the opening reception generously provided by Nadine Nelson of Global Gourmet

SAVE THE DATE

Saturday December 6, 6-9PM

ELY CENTER PARTY

Featuring the DJ sounds of Dooley O for dancing!

IN THE NEWS

The Arts Paper: In The "Materials Kitchen," Early Childhood Dreams Take Flight

JOIN OUR FRIENDS AND VOLUNTEER FAMILY

Please note that the Ely Center of Contemporary Art will be closed on Nov 26 & 27 so staff can spend time with family during the Thanksgiving Break.

Gallery Hours: We, Th, Su 12-5pm or by appointment- to book an off hours visit please email aburg@elycenter.org

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art will be closed for moving to 162 James Street (City Seed’s amazing Fairhaven location) from Dec 19-January 31.

SUPPORT ECOCA

M I S S I O N

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art’s mission is to present contemporary art exhibitions and events—challenging, conceptual, and provocative—that are inclusive, diverse and promote dialogue around global and community issues. Our work reaffirms Grace Ely’s testamentary wishes for an art center where artists, arts organizations, and the public assemble, exchange, learn, and engage through exhibitions, performances, and emerging contemporary practice

ECOCA receives support from the City of New Haven, Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, Connecticut Office of the Arts, Connecticut Humanities, New Alliance Foundation, Wells Fargo, Yale University, and Friends of the John Slade Ely House of Contemporary Art.

ECOCA is moving!After many inspiring years in our beloved Trumbull Street home, we’re excited to share that the Ely Center of Contemporary Art (ECOCA) is moving to a temporary space at CitySeed as we continue our search for a permanent home.

SAVE THE DATE

Saturday December 6, 6-9PM

ELY CENTER PARTY

Featuring the DJ sounds of Dooley O for dancing!

ECOCA is moving!

After many inspiring years in our beloved Trumbull Street home, we’re excited to share that the Ely Center of Contemporary Art (ECOCA) is moving to a temporary space at CitySeed as we continue our search for a permanent home.