Lexa Walsh: Consolidated Mess – Interactive Exhibit

Residency Dates:
* August 20 – September 30

Tea Talk:
* Saturday, November 5, 2:00 – 4:00 pm

Interactive Exhibit Dates:
* October 1 – November 6

Lexa Walsh: Consolidated Mess is an interactive artist residency and exhibition informed by the Hamilton Airfield historical archives housed at the Hamilton Field History Museum in Novato, California.

The project’s title draws from the base’s common space—the mess hall—which brought together all factions of the military for general convening, discussion, and the sharing of meals.

Walsh is interested in the complexities of war—how do we find value in some wars over others, who is valued, and how does this value change with time?

She will be in residence in the Second Floor Gallery for five weeks, and open to the public for “office hours” while developing the project.

Walsh’s research and visual output will be on view following the residency period as a six-week installation and animated by a series of public programs during the run of the exhibition.

Says Walsh, “I make context-responsive participatory projects and exhibitions about power and value. I act as anthropologist, archivist, curator, facilitator, and experience-maker, fusing these practices to create physical and emotional spaces for social engagement and institutional critique.”

This exhibition is generously supported by the County of Marin Community Service Fund

Lexa Walsh’s ‘Tea Talks’ are a chance for community members to discuss sensitive issues over an afternoon tea. For the final event of Consolidated Mess, a Tea Talk on Saturday, November 5, 2-4pm, Walsh invites service members, veterans, their families and those affected by war, and interested community members who would like to engage in the subject of war and its complexities.

Lexa Walsh is an artist and cultural worker based in Oakland. She makes projects, exhibitions, publications, and objects that invite social engagement, institutional critique, and radical hospitality. Walsh founded and oversaw Oakland Stock, a branch of the Sunday Soup network micro-granting dinner series that supports artists’ projects. She was a recipient of Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure Award, the CEC Artslink Award, the Gunk Grant, and was a de Young Artist Fellow. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, projects, and performances across the country.