In a dimly lit Roone Arledge Auditorium, small candles lining rows of seats shone like stars in the night sky—only to be eclipsed by the vibrant, colorful display of performances in Columbia Taal’s annual showcase: Naach Nation.​

In a large white room lined with vibrant orange chairs, multidisciplinary artists Ocean Vuong and Laurie Anderson, BC ’69, SoA ’72, discussed their artistic journeys through the lens of Buddhist practices.

For a brief moment, the ornate, operatic strains of Central and Eastern European song reverberated throughout the brick interior of St. Paul’s Chapel, transforming the space into a site of both education and celebration of the oral tradition.

Equipped with the power of song and unlimited Red Bull, six contestants competed in Wang Pavilion last Thursday for the coveted opening act slot at Bacchanal 2026. In the end, only one act remained standing, Rosie Peppé, CC ’26.

For a brief moment, guests at Mariachi Leones de Columbia’s end-of-semester showcase were whisked into the beauty of Mexican culture through music, dance, and food.

As technology encodes itself deeper into everyday lives, Postcrypt Gallery—an undergraduate art collective at Columbia—organized its first exhibition of the year around the shifting intersection of the digital and natural worlds.

With quilts and outfits, Barnard debuted its newest exhibition, “Weaving Dreams,” in the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning on Oct. 3. The exhibition features a collection of quilts created by Barnard professor Kim F. Hall and works created by other textile artists.

With overhead lights dimmed, the Wallach Art Gallery’s newest exhibition of video art illuminates the space with a mixture of playful vibrance, natural imagery, and cinematic storytelling. The installations explore the concept of the lived queer experience and the dissonance that comes with it, marked by both celebration and grief.

Students at this year’s Convocation ceremony, an event hosted for all incoming Columbia undergraduate students at the end of their New Student Orientation Program, may not appear to share similar experiences with policymakers in the halls of Congress or art lovers at the Kennedy Center.