This tour is part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas

Learn about the history of ECOCA (Ely Center of Contemporary Art) at 51 Trumbull Street in New Haven. Situated within an English Elizabethan style house built in 1902 by S. G. Taylor, ECOCA was home to John Slade Ely (1860-1906) and his wife, Grace Taylor Ely, who came to New Haven in 1897. Now it is one of New Haven’s premier contemporary art spaces, with a constant rotation of thought provoking and innovative art from local and national artists. This tour will explore both the home and the art center and view the exhibitions on display throughout its galleries.

The tour will feature an artist talk by Horacio Marquinez and a Keyhole Workspace Artist in Residence. Marquinez’s exhibition, America Unfiltered, is a series of photographs that he took while at the height of the pandemic, two immigrant filmmakers – one from Panama, the other from Russia – journeyed across the United States uncovering an unfiltered, unflinching portrait of America. What if we could better relate to one another and heal our nation’s divides by seeing that we share so much beneath the surface? What if we found the courage to ask questions and just listen, overpowering our natural instinct to react? In the second floor galleries is work created by ECOCA’s Keyhole Workspace Artists in Residence. This cohort of 5 artists, Ramón Bonilla, Esthea Kim, Adrian Panaitisor, Línda Perla-Giron, Emily Weiskopf, spent 2.5 months working in the former servants quarters of the ECOCA building developing work that touches upon the many levels of climate change.

This tour is free but you must register here.