The Order of New Arts Opens in Philadelphia with Inaugural Exhibitions

Philadelphia will welcome a new cultural landmark this fall: The Order of New Arts (ONA), a collecting institution and creative platform dedicated to presenting historical and contemporary art in dialogue. Located in Olde Kensington, ONA officially opens its doors on October 9, 2025.

Founded in 2025, ONA is led by co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Jabari Zuberi (also known as Jay Simple), whose work as an artist and cultural organizer has been presented internationally. Alongside him is board chair and co-founder Professor Tukufu Zuberi, renowned scholar, curator, and longtime University of Pennsylvania professor, widely recognized from PBS’s History Detectives. The curatorial program is guided by Professor Vanicléia Silva-Santos, a leading scholar of African and Afro-diasporic material culture. Together, this team positions ONA as an institution shaped by artists, curators, and scholars with international reputations for innovation.

Opening Exhibitions

To mark its debut, ONA will present two inaugural exhibitions:

Vision of a New Order — featuring newly commissioned works by Meesha Goldberg, Patricia Renee Thomas, Sanié Bokhari, Stephen Foster, William Camargo, and Zora J. Murff. Collectively, these artists take up ONA’s central question: How can we form a new artistic order in an era dominated by commodification and spectacle?

Black Futures in Global Struggle: The Zuberi Family Collection — curated by Professor Silva-Santos, this exhibition brings together more than 40 works from Tukufu Zuberi’s collection. It features internationally celebrated artists such as Melvin Edwards, Renata Felinto, Kerry James Marshall, Carrie Mae Weems, Alison Saar, and others. Organized into four thematic clusters, Black Body in Propaganda, Portraits of Black Agency, Black Everyday Life, and Visions and Abstractions, the show highlights how Black creativity has continually resisted erasure while imagining new futures.

Redefining the Institution

ONA’s opening space was designed in collaboration with Brazilian architect Gisele de Paula, whose work for the 2025 São Paulo Biennial has drawn international recognition. Her design blends raw historic textures with bold color, moving away from the conventional “white cube” gallery model to create an environment of inclusivity and warmth.

As Jabari Zuberi describes it: “The Order of New Arts is not only about presenting art. It is about reimagining what an institution can be: a place of imagination, memory, and collective care, rooted in Philadelphia but engaged with the world.”

Why It Matters

With its dual commitment to collecting and exhibiting, ONA enters the Philadelphia art scene as both a cultural hub and a scholarly resource. By situating contemporary works in dialogue with global histories of material culture, ONA positions itself as a space where art is understood not just as reflection, but as a force for new possibilities.