Worth pondering—CEPA’s Conversation Pieces
A visit to CEPA is not something best carried out quickly, first because the venerable center for photography-based art is spread out over four floors of the historical downtown Market Arcade building, but also because the work is often so thought provoking that you need time to soak it in. The exhibition anthology on view here collectively titled Conversation Pieces is a case in point. Actually ten separate projects by artists who “stage, subvert, provoke, intervene in, or document public dialogues;” many are overtly political, and most somehow relate to or deal with our local communities. They all take some orientation.
Take for instance Repair Shop, a collaborative project by the groups InCUBATE, Material Exchange, and architect Adam Bobbette, in conjunction with nonprofit Buffalo Re-Use, a local organization that salvages and recycles building materials. What you see in the first floor FLUX Gallery is an old fashioned workshop with a long bench and multiple stools. Objects in need of repair are scattered about, like an end table with a detached leg and a section of a dismantled wall, each with a tag attached explaining its defect. Over the course of the exhibition, various projects occur in the space, metaphorically addressing the concept of “repair.” There are also grant applications on hand for local artists to fill out. On certain days InCUBATE operates as a soup kitchen, selling soups to the public made from locally donated goods to raise funds for the artist grant that will be awarded to the best proposal as selected by the public at the end of the exhibition.
Confused? I’m not even scratching the surface here. And this is just one of the ten projects on view, each as complex its own way. I couldn’t begin to explain them—at least not in a blog post. Suffice it to say they include faux job recruitment posters, publicly read love letters, images and text relating to the nature of American citizenship, electronic eavesdropping, and sensory triggers evoking the historical use of the Market Arcade Building. Easily a full day worth of pondering.
Conversation Pieces runs through December 19. Check cepagallery.org for hours and other information.
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