Roman Witt Artist Residency awarded to Holly Bass by U-M Stamps School of Art & Design and the University of Michigan Museum of Art
Bass to premier Civilities in 2026 — a bold and inventive exploration of American identity for the United States Semiquincentennial.
The U‑M Stamps School of Art & Design and the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) announced today that interdisciplinary artist Holly Bass has been selected as the 2025 – 2026 Roman J. Witt Artist-in-Residence, a prestigious, nationally recognized program that supports leading contemporary artists by connecting them to the full creative ecosystem of one of the country’s top public research universities.
During her residency, Bass will develop Civilities, an immersive installation and performance that explores the legacy of the Civil War and the ongoing entanglements of identity, power, and national mythmaking in the United States. The project will culminate in 2026 with a large-scale public performance in UMMA’s historic Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Apse, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Known for her genre-defying practice that spans dance, theater, visual art, and writing, Bass is an award-winning artist and cultural worker based in Washington, DC. Her work — held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery — frequently engages communities through workshops, devised theater, and participatory installations.
In Civilities, Bass will draw inspiration from the 1861 “Declarations of Causes of Seceding States,” the official documents in which Southern states justified leaving the Union, explicitly citing the preservation of slavery. Through a satirical lens, she brings these narratives to life by personifying Confederate states as antebellum Southern belles — characters like “Missy” (Mississippi) and “Ginny” (Virginia) — who animate the contradictions and mythologies that continue to shape American identity.
The performance will activate UMMA’s iconic Tisch Apse — a 6,400-square-foot space originally built in 1910 to honor U‑M veterans of early American wars. Bass will transform the space into a hyper-patriotic historic house museum filled with hundreds of American flags to create an immersive setting that invites visitors to reflect on the intersections of national memory, identity, and storytelling.
“With Civilities, Holly Bass is offering a bold and imaginative contribution to our national conversation,” said Jim Leija, Director of Public Experience and Learning at UMMA. “Her work invites us to reflect deeply — and sometimes playfully — on the stories we tell about who we are as a nation. It’s exactly the kind of inventive, thought-provoking project that UMMA and the Witt Residency can champion.”
In addition to the installation, Bass will lead a range of engagement activities with U‑M students and the wider community, including devised theater workshops, public conversations, and collaborative art-making. Her project builds on a body of work including Moneymaker: Election Edition and American Woman, which use satire, performance, and embodiment to interrogate power, identity, and cultural narratives.
“We are thrilled to award the Witt Residency to Holly Bass in collaboration with UMMA,” said Chrisstina Hamilton, Director of the Roman J. Witt Residency Program. “This vital partnership enables us to support more ambitious projects, providing artists the resources they need to develop and present new work with an established platform for public engagement. It underscores our shared commitment to championing artists and fostering innovative work in dialogue with our community and beyond.”
The mission of the Roman J. Witt Residency Program is to support an artist in the production of new work in association with the University of Michigan’s community and resources. This will be the fourth iteration of the Witt Residency that is held in partnership with the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) – previous artists Zafos Xagorias (2018), Courtney McLellan (2020), and Machine Dazzle (2024) also featured performance and/or social practice activations extensively in their work. The partnership reflects UMMA’s deep commitment to supporting artists whose practices push boundaries and spark dialogue about the pressing issues of our time.
Learn more about the Witt Residency Program at stamps.umich.edu, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art at umma.umich.edu. Additional information about artist Holly Bass at hollybass.com.