None of this is Real, Phase #3, Santa Ana, CA, 2019
For the third phase of my evolving project, None of this is Real, an impasse was installed in the front gallery of Grand Central Art Center that spanned from the street facing window to the rear wall, effectively separating the gallery from the rest of the exhibition spaces. Participants were first taught how to break into gallery through a secret door hidden in the impasse by utilizing a technique that in pop culture is usually referred to as “credit-carding.” Locksmiths call to this technique as “shimming.” Once the door had been shimmed open gallery-goers were free enter the gallery and experience the exhibition that was located behind the impasse. However, the door was then closed and locked from the inside in a way that required a second participant to be taught how to destroy the lock by using a high-speed grinder. Once the lock had been destroyed the door could be opened and gallery-goers were then free to enter and exit the space again. Participants got to keep the shim that used to enter the gallery and also the lock that they destroyed in order to exit. This process of breaking into and out of the gallery continued for three hours during Grand Central Art Centers twenty year anniversary celebration. The experience was free and open to people of all ages and abilities.
Performed: March 2, 2019 and April 6, 2019 from 7-10PM. Courtroom illustrator Miles Hochhalter-Lewis was hired to do live drawings to document the event.
