A new contemporary art space is opening in Austin's Rosewood neighborhood. Ostillo Art Foundation, opening September 19 at 2600 Rosewood Ave., will include gallery space, a library, and a space for open-air performances. It will also be the new permanent home of the East Side Kings Festival, a music festival dedicated to African American blues, jazz, and gospel.

Ostillo is named after Ostilio Ricci, a Renaissance mathematician who taught at the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. He served as a mentor for the famed astronomer Galileo Galilei; the new art foundation's website credits him for "linking Renaissance science to the emerging Scientific Revolution through his most famous student."

The art space is less overtly scientific, though a press release does emphasize its goal to "inspire curiosity, encourage critical thinking and foster meaningful engagement with the world around us."

Its point of view is also rooted in its neighborhood, a historically Black area molded by segregation. Rosewood's history includes concentrated areas of Black cultural expression, especially in music, that the foundation wants to pay homage to. Finally, it hopes to connect that history to international art discourse.

Exhibitions at Ostillo will draw from the collection of local developer René Campos, which reaches back to the 1980s. They'll be both monographic (showing the works of one artist) and arranged by theme, starting with Masquerade, an exhibition curated by founding director Sacha Zerbib.

Masquerade shows off works in a variety of media including paintings, assemblage, sculptures, and photography, all displaying images of masks. The title references a silkscreen by Glenn Ligon, which visitors can see in the exhibition, that itself incorporates pieces of the 1953 James Baldwin essay "Stranger in the Village."

In the essay, Baldwin reflects on his extended visit to a remote Swiss village, where the residents, some of whom have never even seen a Black person, objectify him. He writes about Swiss children who wear black face paint and wigs to solicit donations for converting African natives, and alleges that in imagining what is behind a Black man's "mask," the white man only exposes his own personality.

In the exhibition, 14 featured artists "probe the unstable terrain of identification, self-fashioning, estrangement and conflict," the press release says. Those artists are:

• Kader Attia
• María Berrío
• Marlene Dumas
• EvanHolloway
• Sanya Kantarovsky
• Glenn Ligon
• Paolo Nazareth
• Damián Ortega
• Adam Pendleton
• Mohammed Sami
• Thomas Schütte
• Sylvia Snowden
• Salman Toor
• Christopher Wool

The exhibition will also be paired with a public lecture series by director of exhibitions Dr. Jean Capeille, an art historian. The program connects history and modern entertainment, starting with a doctoral exploration of American vaudeville and artistic "traditions of spectacle." After each tour, guests are invited to tour the exhibition for a bit more insight into the thematic value of the works.

“We developed this ambitious and thought-provoking collection with the intention of sharing it with the public,” said Zerbib in the release. “At a time when many are seeking connection and inspiration, our goal is to create a welcoming space with a program that addresses pressing social issues through artistic expression and resonates with both local audiences and visitors from around the world.”

A page on the Ostillo website puts out a call for volunteers who can spend four hours a week engaging with visitors and answering questions. Adults over 18 can find out more by emailing info@ostillo.com.