Donna Mikkelsen: ASK WHAT: The KuBe Art Center, Beacon, NY

Ethan Cohen Gallery at the KuBe Art Center is pleased to present Donna Mikkelsen’s ASK WHAT, from her Word Alchemy series Presidential Words. The title takes the most famous line of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, "Ask not…", and transmutes it until a phrase we know by heart asks something new of us.

In the Auditorium, Mikkelsen also screens two short films: Revolutionary Words, a Word Alchemy animation of Revolutionary Presidents, and An American Dream Story, a five-minute tribute to Bill Ellenwood, one of Bonfire's biggest supporters, who recently passed away.

Word Alchemy is Mikkelsen's series on the language of power. In Presidential Words, she transforms the words of American leaders so that we hear them anew.

About Donna Mikkelsen

Brooklyn-born and now living in Beacon, NY, Donna Mikkelsen has spent 35 years teaching and building community through the arts. She founded an arts-integrated school in the Hudson Valley and is the Director of KuBe Art Center in Beacon. In October 2025 she spoke at the Creative Women Platform Assembly at the United Nations. A passion for democracy runs through her work.

ASK WHAT: Main Gallery

Hours: Every Saturday, Tours at 2 pm

Films: Auditorium

Hours: During Baby Bonfire, Saturday, November 7, 2026, 1 to 5:30 pm

About The KuBe Art Center:

Established in 2011, The KuBe (Kunsthalle Beacon) is a 127,000 square foot art center located in Beacon New York at the site of a former high school. The KuBe Art Center includes the Joan Lebold Cohen and Jerome A. Cohen Center for Visual Arts, The Chongmao and Zheng Ruyu Theater, which hosts experimental community film, theater, and dance projects. Additionally, The Kube provides 48 artists' studios, and commercial office spaces which have hosted a variety of community-based business ranging from puppeteers to political campaign headquarters. In 2023 the KuBe Art Center received The Arts Mid-Hudson Arts Organization  Executive Arts Award.  We wish to extend an invitation to you to join the Hudson Valley community in Beacon to discover our emerging incubator and visit exhibitions of internationally acclaimed artists in our expansive galleries.

About Ethan Cohen Gallery:

Ethan Cohen Gallery is a curatorial force in global contemporary art, known for championing both emerging and established voices across continents. With a foundation in post-war contemporary, the gallery has earned international recognition for its early and sustained support of Chinese Avant-Garde artists, as well as its forward-thinking embrace of emerging talent and contemporary African art. Ethan Cohen’s eye for the extraordinary has helped launch the careers of artists who are now widely celebrated, while continuing to introduce collectors and institutions to the most compelling new voices of each generation. As noted in Slant Magazine, Ethan Cohen has been called “one of the most influential art dealers in the world.”

Founded in 1987 as Art Waves/Ethan Cohen in SoHo, the gallery was among the first to present Chinese experimental art to the U.S. audience. Today, Ethan Cohen Gallery operates from two locations in Chelsea, NYC and The KuBe Art Center in Beacon, New York, a 127,000 square foot interdisciplinary hub for exhibitions, performance, and artistic dialogue. The gallery also maintains a strong global presence through participation in major international art fairs. Across all platforms, Ethan Cohen Gallery curates museum-quality shows, nurtures cross-cultural dialogue, and remains committed to discovering and amplifying radical, relevant, and resonant art.

Press Contacts:

Donna Mikkelsen: donna@ecfa.com | Lara Kamhi: lara@ecfa.com