Participating artists BGL, Conrad Bakker, Beth Campbell, Valerie Hegarty, Germaine Koh, Isola and Norzi, Chadwick Rantanen, Derek Sullivan, Anne Walsh/Chris Kubick, Lee Walton, Laurel Woodcock. Public program by C.U.P. Curated by Joseph del Pesco

On Being an Exhibition borrows Michael Asher’s “S Situational Aesthetics” as a point of departure toward the development of an exhibition that leverages this pre-conditioning of the viewer, the physical language of the gallery, and the packaging and promotion of its contents. By implicating these infra-structural aspects of the institution, On Being An Exhibition intends to interrupt the situation of the gallery experience and recontextualize the production of an exhibition.

Asher acknowledges certain elements of the gallery as known quantities (lighting track, white walls, a front desk, a gallery attendant, etc.) despite their background/neutral status. Through complicating the physicality, location, or function of these preexisting objects in the gallery, the value of these elements can change, making us aware of their capacity to hold meaning. Thus, context-contingent meaning arises out of a complex set of relationships between the gallery, its history, and the expectations of the viewer/user.