Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Dometi Pongo, THE EXHIBIT: FINDING THE NEXT GREAT ARTIST is a one-hour competition series that follows seven diverse artists who vie for a $100,000 cash prize and a once-in-a-lifetime exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Melissa Chiu, Director of the Hirshhorn, is the lead judge with art-world insiders Abigail DeVille, JiaJia Fei, Samuel Hoi, Adam Pendleton, Keith Rivers, Kenny Schachter and Sarah Thornton as guest judges. The six-episode series features weekly competitions centered around the hot-button issues of our time, leading to a grand finale at the Hirshhorn Ball, the museum's annual gala, where the winning artist will be chosen. The seven artists are:

Jamaal Barber (Atlanta, GA): An artist, printmaker, and educator whose mixed media practice examines the ways in which social issues, culture, and identity can overlap with Blackness. Barber is currently a visiting lecturer at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design in Atlanta, GA.

Frank Buffalo Hyde (Minneapolis, MN): An Onondaga/Niimiipuu (Nez Perce) artist whose paintings examine and elevate an image of contemporary Indigenous life through a vibrant pop-sensibility and uncompromising satirical eye. Hyde lives and works in Northfield, MN.

Baseera Khan (Brooklyn, NY): A New York-based performance, sculpture, and installation artist whose work explores materials and their economies, and the effects of these relationships upon labor, family structures, religion, and spiritual well-being.

Misha Kahn (New York, NY): A New York-based artist and designer who works at the intersection of design and sculpture and is best known for creating whimsical and playful objects made through a variety of materials and array of processes.

Clare Kambhu (Queens, NY): An artist and arts educator in New York City that creates paintings that draw attention to everyday, often overlooked objects, with a recent focus on how these items might reveal the potential for humanity to break the constraints of educational institutions.

Jillian Mayer (Miami, FL): Working across video, sculpture, photography, performance, web-based experiences, and installation, Mayer is a Miami-based artist whose practice explores the intersection of technology and human existence, particularly how our participation in a digital landscape reshapes our physical experiences.

Jennifer Warren (Chicago, IL): A Chicago-based oil painter whose work explores themes around nature, beauty, and the Black body. Largely self-taught, Warren's practice reflects her passion for incorporating new ideas and techniques that aim to convey the lived Black experience through everyday intimate and meditative moments.
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On Friday, April 7, 2023 at 10pm ET/PT, MTV premiered "Exhibit of a Lifetime," the season finale of THE EXHIBIT: FINDING THE NEXT GREAT ARTIST. The artists have one last chance to impress the judges with a self portrait. Then, three finalists are chosen to showcase their work at the Hirshhorn Ball, but only one will win the exhibit of a lifetime and $100,000.