Conversation Pieces is an exhibition that brings together projects by artists who stage, subvert, provoke, intervene in or document public dialogues. These projects have multiple, often interrelated objectives: claiming public space, time and attention to start specific conversations around specific issues; questioning the current states, definitions, and limits of dialogue in the public realm; and presenting alternative possibilities for or re-imaginings of the public through various models of participation in (variously public) dialogues.

Screenings & Events

The InCUBATE Repair Shop, Soup Kitchen and Bar will be in operation from 7 pm to midnight on September 11th and 12 -4 pm on September 12th. The Repair Shop closing and grant award event will be held in late November, date TBA. Alexis Bhagat's performance, Stephanie Rothenberg's talk show and Nina Leo & Stefani Bardin's performative installation will also take place in November, exact dates TBA.

As part of Conversation Pieces, CEPA will co-sponsor three talks in UB's fall speaker series: Ricardo Miranda Zuñiga on October 19th, Claire Tancons on October 26th and Trevor Paglen on November 23rd.

The Conversations Pieces screening program will run continuously in the Underground Gallery, with the program changing every three weeks.

Program 1 (9/11-10/1) will feature films that exemplify the feminist idea of the personal as political.

Program 2 (10/2-10/22) will present videos that deconstruct mass media messages.

Program 3 (10/23-11/12) will delve into the history of public protest in the US, via the Videofreex archive.

Program 4 (11/13-12/3) will feature documentation of past public dialogue performances.

Program 5 (12/5-12/19) will present videos that take dialogue as subject, and explore the possibilities and limits of language.