“Stones Above Diamonds” Gallery Visit | Independent Study Reflection #2 (part 2)

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Welcome back to my latest Independent Study writeup! In Part 1, I went over my first cheap cheerful prototype. In this part, I'll be discussing my experience viewing Ignacio Gatica's Stones Above Diamonds at the Cooper Cole Gallery.

A visit of Ignacio Gatica's Stones Above Diamonds

On October 20th, I went to Cooper Cole to see @ignaciogatica's "Stones Above Diamonds". I learned about this artwork on Instagram. Alex, the wonderful grad student who TA'd Intro to Curatorial Studies course in the Fall of 2021, shared a video of them interacting with the work on their Instagram story.

The work features a row of mock credit cards with photographs of banks. When an audience member picks up a card and swipes it through the machine attached to the screen in the middle, a message (found near the site of the photographed bank) appears on the screen.

I found this work so intriguing, and wished I could spend more time there and swipe through all the cards.

It's given me a lot to consider and think about for my own thesis work...

Gatica's artist talk may also serve as a source of inspiration:

When I mentioned the visit to Adam, this study's supervisor, he asked me to answer the following questions:

What do I think about it?

I really loved this work, and how the installation's tactile nature encourages audience members to move around and interact with the work. I'm a sucker for an artwork in a gallery that you can actually touch.

When I first saw the work on Alex's story, it gave me so many ideas (as evidenced by Study #1):

What if, instead of credit cards, it was calling cards?

What if, rather than having a card-reader, it was a telephone connected to a database of all the submissions?

What if you could navigate the database via your voice AND via the calling cards?

What if, what if, what if....?

So many possibilities I had never considered prior!

Would it make sense for me to have my own work in a gallery setting?

Honestly, no.

Don't get me wrong: I love art galleries, but when I went to go see the work, I had to be let in by a staff member, and the staff member stood as I interacted with the work. Knowing that I was being observed (as the only person viewing the work at the time!) was nerve-wracking. I felt self-conscious about how I was interacting with the work, and didn't want to take too long in the room. As such, I tried to hasten my experience, and didn't feel as comfortable as I would have if there were other people, or if I wasn't being observed.

I completely understand that for safety/security/logistical/architectural/etc. reasons, a staff member of the gallery had to be present, but I don't think that the kind of experience I would want to create for my work. I would love for audience members to get lost in a rabbit hole of connected thoughts, and to explore as much of the work as they can.

When I shared this insight with Adam, he recommended connecting with BAND -> Black Artist Network and Dialogue as a potential site or partner to showcase my work (if it will be exhibited in person).

How will my own work be exhibited, shown, released?

That is the key question! At this point, it's hard to tell, and will depend on the format the final project takes on. I will definitely have an online/web component so that people can navigate the database asynchronously and from anywhere.

Physical-component wise, though? TBD.