Be Here Together
Upon entering the exhibition each guest was given a transparency sheet with this written welcome:
“Thank you for being here.
this room is filled with potential
a collective charge
power and kindness
You and I.
Please be welcome and make yourself comfortable
please converse and make things happen
the work that matters here is yours.
May your heart be warm and the power be felt.”
Be Here Together.: mixed media installation, video, and gathering, 2016.
Collaboration with Sarah Jones and Rick Briggenhorst
Be Here Together was a study of social practice and relational aesthetics. The exhibition was centered around creating a space for the community to gather, converse, and build. The walls were covered in silver mylar to reflect and amplify those gathered, the lighting was warm, circular seating arrangements were made from locally sourced hay bales, and homemade soup and bread were served. Positive words were stitched into coats and projected in a secondary gallery.
Throughout the reception, two overhead projectors displayed messages and drawings done by guests, exchanged freely by everyone. After being displayed on the projectors, the transparency sheets were hung on pillars throughout the gallery - becoming the only physical art objects left from Be Here Together.