Grand Central Art Center

¡Salté de mi/tu Box!

I curated ¡Salté de mi/tu Box!, a participatory exhibition testing the boundaries inherent in the artist/patron relationship.

Mayte Escobar & Paul Kelley presented ¡Salté de mi/tu Box!, a one-night performance that explored creating and removing boundaries through participating directly with the artists. The performance allowed the audience to examine the limits of their own lives and how to move beyond them.

Viewer participation was an integral part of this piece. Visitors were asked to respond to a series of questions, write their answers on a post-it note, and place the answers anywhere in the exhibition space. Post-it notes were placed on the gallery walls and many were placed on the artists themselves. This interaction allowed participants to test the boundaries inherent in the artist/viewer interaction and break down the expectations of traditional museum viewing experiences.

The exhibition was so impactful that the post-it notes and exhibition props remained in the gallery for two weeks after the one-night performance allowing patrons to interact with the history and remnants of this exhibition.

Some questions that patrons were asked to answer on the post-it notes:
What keeps you boxed in and how do you escape your box?
Have you or do you confine yourself as well as others?
Do you find yourself caught up in daily routines, comforts or habits that you wish to break?

The Numbers

1000+ visitors
800+ interactions
2 artists
1 participatory exhibition

Artist bios

Mayte Escobar lives and works in Southern California and received her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art & Design from Cal State San Bernardino. Escobar has exhibited work throughout Southern California and Mexico.

Paul Kelley lives and works in Southern California and received a Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University. Kelley has exhibited work throughout Southern California.