For more than two decades, MODfest has been Vassar College’s annual reminder that experimental art doesn’t have to be siloed—or small. Founded in 2002, the interdisciplinary festival has grown into a winter fixture that pulls together music, performance, film, and visual art under a shared curatorial umbrella. This year’s edition, MODfest 2026: “Sounding the Visionary” (January 23–February 7), leans into that legacy with a program that looks backward and forward at once, foregrounding artists who challenge dominant narratives and reimagine how culture gets made. All events are free and open to the public.
The centerpiece of this year’s festival is the opera “Computing Venus,” an ambitious work by composer Timothy Takach and librettist Caitlin Vincent that opens MODfest with three performances at the Martel Theater January 23-25. The opera traces the life of Maria Mitchell, the 19th-century astronomer who discovered a comet from her Nantucket rooftop and went on to become one of Vassar’s first faculty members. More than a biographical portrait, “Computing Venus” situates Mitchell’s scientific achievements within the cultural resistance she faced as a woman in a male-dominated field, drawing connections between music, science, and feminist inquiry. It’s a smart fit for a festival invested in how visionary thinking pushes against institutional limits.
On the visual arts side, “Photography of Jeremy Dennis” brings a powerful contemporary perspective to the Palmer Gallery January 15 to February 15. Dennis, an enrolled member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation and founder of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, is known for work that interrogates Indigenous identity, land, and assimilation through staged and conceptual photography. His images balance clarity and symbolism, often folding history into the present moment. Chronogram readers may recognize his work: a photograph by Dennis appeared on the cover of the magazine’s March 2025 issue, underscoring his growing presence in regional and national conversations around Indigenous art and cultural sovereignty.
Elsewhere, MODfest continues its tradition of cross-disciplinary experimentation. “Rescoring Richter” pairs the avant-garde films of Hans Richter with newly composed live music, reworking early 20th-century cinema through contemporary sound practices. Faculty and guest artists take the stage for the Honorary Adene and Richard Wilson Concert, while the final weekend turns attention to emerging voices through a student composer symposium, site-specific sound installations across campus, and a live listening party with student-run radio station WVKR.
Taken together, MODfest 2026 offers a snapshot of how institutions can support ambitious, forward-thinking work without losing sight of history. From an opera about a pioneering scientist to photography that confronts the ongoing realities of Indigenous life, this year’s festival invites audiences to listen closely—to the past, to the present, and to what’s still taking shape.
