Outside In: Free Ceramics Workshop
Get your hands into clay and explore the world of ceramics. In this free, drop-in workshop, you’ll have the chance to create small dishes, tiles, spoon rests, coasters, or soap dishes. You can start with premade pieces or dive in from scratch – the choice is yours!
Whether you're carving, sculpting, or painting, you’ll add your personal touch to every piece. This workshop is a relaxed, loosely guided experience in hand-building techniques. All materials and firing fees are included.
Details:
Everyone is welcome! (Children must be accompanied by an adult.)
One piece per person.
Pottery will be available for pick-up at a later date.
Drop in anytime between 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. (Entry ends at 2:00 PM.)
Outside In: Free Fabric Collage Workshop
Artist Chia Liu, who incorporates collage techniques in her painting, will guide you in giving new life to unused fabric through creative, hands-on collage.
We encourage you to bring your own materials and walk away with something beautifully reimagined! However, some limited materials will also be supplied on-site.
Details:
Everyone is welcome! (Children must be accompanied by an adult.)
One piece per person.
Drop in anytime between 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM.
Outside In
Larger than the sum of its parts, the Compound is a complex site of artistic experimentation, ever flexible in the approaches it takes to intersect creativity, sociology, and the adaptive use of space. With a footprint the size of a city block, the complex of buildings at the Compound serves to incubate a range of practices from over 30 artists and artisans, house a number of small businesses and nonprofit organizations, and produce innovative and fearless public programs that question and challenge its role as an art space. Core to the genetic makeup of the Compound is the flexibility to mutate and evolve, allowing unlimited structural iterations to unfold in the pursuit of balancing the collective needs and desires of its stakeholders. Outside In is an opportunity for us to showcase the abundance of production that is currently occurring behind our doors.
The best way to understand the Compound, in its most current state, is to experience it. On October 5th, 2025, the Compound will open all of its doors and invite guests to check out the buildings, meet the community members who live and work here, and experience the breadth of cultural production that happens at the Compound. Outside In will be a day-long event, with workshops in the morning and an exhibition opening reception, open house, and art market from 3:00PM to 9:00PM. Food and beverages will be available throughout the day. Some of the events happening throughout the day include: film screenings, harm-reduction workshops, ceramics workshops, open studios, music in the courtyard, and an open jam music session. Within both indoor and outdoor spaces, playfulness, exploration and collaboration will compose a rich moment of cultural nourishment.
The Molt Journal
Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday
12-4PM
Gasping for breath, climbing up the ridge of the back, stepping onto the hollow neck, thick hair blocking the way forward, ruffling, trimming, moving forward through the darkness. Gradually, vaguely, could feel the vibration and cracking of the feet from the chest, slippery on the soles of the feet. Land and water are both not well as passage ways, this is the mischief and accommodation of the move.
Land and water are both not well as passage ways, this is the sly utterance of the creator and the work and words that were born. Two feet off the ground , leaving the mother; wobbling on a swing; leaning in front of a big screen; dangling over the edge of a cliff; becoming a bug, a sound, an exclamation, sailing briefly away from gravity in a leap of faith, and then landing. These mark the beginnings of being a human creature, and then the cycles repeat . Cuticle, dust, fetters, fetishes, overloads, the foreign matter that intermittently vomits up its sweetness , forming a firm yet soft chrysalis. “Metamorphosis” is a romantic, stirring, and short analogy, whereby we come close to and snuggle up to other creatures, merging seamlessly, remembering the origins of everything.
Creation, is to create a non-relative child, hard-boned, innocent, stubborn, to fall, to stand, to look back at the creator. This alien body in front of them is the skin shed by the world, by the creator’s gaze, hands, and heart; each part deserving great credit. Thus their faces are blurred, seeming elliptical and indistinct—this lies outside the formation of keen language, arising instead from the knot jointly birthed by the individual body and the external world: entangled, searing, at times beyond attribution. Walking, experiencing, lingering, shedding our skin, walking again - sometimes we don't care if we get a nod of recognition and “make progress” along the way. The skin has to come off eventually, light enough to carry many of the creator's innermost questions and entanglements; lightness is not usually associated with greatness, but the creator's self-exposure renders it grand.
And we love the blurriness of these skins, we love the blur more than the precise stacks. The wayward yet desolate draft that cuts through the hall blows this layer of shed skin toward strangers never met, letting them wear it, slip into the vessel of another—loose or tight, scorching or pleasant, or… possessed. Among cicada calls and bird songs, in the holes of shifting tree shadows, we carry each other’s silhouettes, glittering like ripples on water.
The Molt Journal is a visual record of joy in the midst of asceticism, seeking to tug at a few heartstrings.
Reflexions presents: Lauren Flax
On Saturday September 27th, we invite you all to join us for a night of acidic booty bass and house music, with the iconic Lauren Flax (NYC). From Detroit, MI and now based in New York, you can expect flavors of sound that will work your body, bringing raw uplifting and sensual vibes to the dance-floor. This is not a night to miss with quite the legendary line up of our high energy selectors to make you move, grove, and shake til its over! With supporting sets from Soso Tharpa (DC), Nomiii, and Jacq Jill.
Harm Reduction available on site, as well as safer space guidelines. If you hurt someone in our space, you leave our space - its not a question!
Marigold and Madder Root Natural Dye Workshop
On Sunday, September 21st, join Marnie Ellen Hertzler in her studio at the Compound for a hands-on natural dyeing workshop with marigold flowers and madder root. Participants will explore the rich histories, cultural traditions, and techniques behind these ancient dyes while creating their own beautifully colored fibers. Each participant will receive a handmade zine filled with recipes, botanical illustrations, step-by-step instructions, and space for notes, plus custom marigold and madder root dyed kitchen towel swatches to take home. You’ll leave with the knowledge, resources, and inspiration to keep experimenting and deepening your connection to the natural world of dyes.
Bodywerk II
On Saturday September 20th, we invite Baltimore's absolute finest FLINTAS, to the Compound. They'll be bringing you ass-shaking, bush-bumping energy all night long. This is a place to move, grove and sweat. In addition to a truly sickening selection of Charm City's most beloved DJ's, we're amping things up this BodyWerk with a live performance from Baltimore's sweetheart, Annamae, and a lineup of the hottest gogo dancers blessing us with floor performances. Bring cash for the dancers, energy for the DJs, and all your emotion for Annamae. This is not a night to miss.
Versions: September
Join us on Saturday September 13th at The Compound for the final Version of the summer with our residents Trillnatured and Kotic Couture. With special guest DJ experience with DJ Dolla. Tickets in advance are $10, and $15 at the door. This event is 21+ and from 10-3 AM. Come dance and enjoy the final days of summer 2025.
The Misfire
Opening Reception:
Friday, Sep 5, 5–8 PM
Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 12–4 PM
Join us at The Compound on Friday, September 5th, for the opening reception of our second group exhibition “The Misfire: Engorgement and Constipation.” Weird, vulgar and chaotic, this exhibition stages a tense duet between two bodily extremes: the outward pressure of engorgement and the inward collapse of constipation. These conditions, absurd yet deeply familiar, expose the stalled rhythms and misalignments of modern desire. Here, the body is not a seamless system but a trembling mechanism caught between overstimulation and dysfunction.
The words “engorgement” and “constipation” are juxtaposed here with a touch of cynical, unyielding humor, as the author is well aware. However, these two sensory organs are intimately intertwined, while also signifying two distinct neural pain sensations. Engorgement is the pent-up, unresolved pain that has not yet erupted outward; it is pain that progresses toward outward expression due to excess. Constipation, on the other hand, is the inward-directed pain caused by accumulated tension that has not been released; it is systemic failure and marginal pain triggered by blockage and stagnation. One expands outward toward pain; the other collapses inward into dysfunction.
“Misfire” becomes a structural metaphor—not a failure, but a refusal to start cleanly, to pulse on command. In this space, control slips, delay speaks, and malfunction become meaningful. Drawing from queer phenomenology and critiques of productivity, the exhibition features six multidisciplinary artists – Christian Amaya Garcia, Colin Klavins, Christine McDonald, Angelica Neyra, VILLAGER and Echo Youyi Yan, inviting viewers to experience how these words—never meant to share a stage—interlock, clash, and conspire to create a state of dysfunctional cooperation. The misfire is not a prologue but a recall—a moment when the body, pulled into the center of human experience, no longer a hidden backdrop but an active, trembling system that makes its own sound. Delay is not an interruption but a rhythmic modality. Loss of control is not a pathology but an alternative ethic. The body has never been a ready system, but a political unit in the process of disintegrating, trembling, and reorganizing itself through acts of distress.
Version
We're thrilled to bring you Amorphous, the genre-blending DJ and producer whose creative mixes have captivated fans worldwide! Known for his signature fusions of R&B, pop, dance, and throwbacks, Amorphous has worked with legends like Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Kehlani. We're so lucky to have him take over the decks and can't wait to move with you!
CRY9C
We invite you to this live music event at the Compound, featuring some of our favorites from near and far. Soundscaping and genre bending acts from industrial, 80's inspired, punk and rock-and-roll music. Featuring Cry9c (Philadelphia), Music Mouse, Androgynous Bulge and Hey19.
Break A Leg x Black Techno Matters
Reflexions invites you to join us on Saturday June 21st for this very special two room event at The Compound. With our special hosts Break A Leg and Black Techno Matters. Going from 10 PM til late, we hope you dance til sun rise and rejoice with each other in movement in celebration of Juneteenth. This event prioritizes BIPOC folks, discounts available ATD.
Tromac
Flotussin
Rose Kourts
Dee Clark
Cash.Liss
DJ Dolla
Kotic Couture
AceMo
$15–30
S4S: Pride Edition and Afterparty
Join us on Saturday June 14th, for Searching 4 Something: Pride Edition, as we continue to celebrate during Baltimore Pride at The Compound. We invite this collective to the space to host a very special queer event with a legendary lineup of Leonce (ATL), Flotussin, Lady Lavender, GRL PWR, and DJ AstroNat. With special guests to be announced! Sound scaping across a variety of genres of NOLA bounce, club, vogue, house, and more.
DJ AstroNat
Lady Lavender
Flotussin
Leonce
GRL PWR
Trillnatured + Kotic Couture (VERSION)
Bodywerk
Welcome to Bodywerk. Work hard, and play harder. Join us for a night of the rhythm section and be ready with your dancing shoes. Selectors will be unloading music to get your booty shaking and your body sweating, scaring a variety of genres from ghetto tech to house, Baltimore club to dembow, techno to jungle. Discounted tix available on RA. $25 ATD.
ILUSM
Haseena
Girlypopprincess
Kade Young
$15–25
