Join Chicago-based artist Maria Gaspar to celebrate the opening of her first solo exhibition on the West Coast, Compositions, at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences.

Maria Gaspar: Compositions features newly commissioned and existing works from the award-winning artist that ask the crucial question: how do we build a future from the ruins of the carceral present? Grounded in community partnerships and forms of artistic activism, Gaspar’s multidisciplinary practice helps us imagine new ways to transform existing structures of incarceration while simultaneously making present the histories of those kept out of sight. New works on display at the IAS include bars cast from a recently demolished wing of a sprawling urban jail, to be activated in musical performances, and sculptural renderings of the tools used to materially and metaphorically unbuild spaces of punishment.

The exhibition is accompanied by a selection of short films developed through the artist’s collaborations with people incarcerated. Throughout the exhibition’s duration, sculptural renderings of the jail’s fragments will be sonically and visually activated through performances. The acclaimed composer and theorist James Gordon Williams, assistant professor of music at UC Santa Cruz, will perform an improvised musical piece using the jail’s iron bars on October 7, 4-5:30 p.m. and the artist will speak about her practice.

The Institute of the Arts and Sciences is pleased to participate in Santa Cruz’s First Friday Art Tour; join us on October 6 for an after-hours viewing of the exhibition with artist remarks at 7PM. Enjoy a live musical performance by Afro-Samba-Funk group SambaDá and arepas from local food truck, Pana. This event is free and open to the public.

Maria Gaspar: Compositions is on view at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences September 26, 2023 – March 3, 2024. In addition to Compositions, we invite you to enjoy the ongoing exhibition Sadie Barnette: Family Business, on view at the IAS until December 3, 2023.

Image Credit: Mark Poucher

We are pleased to be part of National Arts & Humanities Month in October.