Christopher Williams makes the opening move in The Game with Provisional Props and Blocking Templates, on view September 26 – November 29, 2026. Williams begins the game with walls: sculptures in their own right, which he has told the curator the artists after him are free to hang their work on. Marked by earlier use and brought forward from past exhibitions — including wall structures adapted from his 2020 show Footwear (Adapted for Use) at David Zwirner — they carry a history of display into the room before the game's rule of inheritance has even begun. The checklist also includes the video PROVISIONAL PROP on a CRT monitor and a large-format banner print of Model-Nr.: 1740 (2016), plus his radio play adaptation of Franz Xaver Kroetz's Inklusive, broadcast on WKCR 89.9 FM on October 5, 2026.
The Game is a year-long exhibition at Arts and Letters (September 26, 2026 – July 3, 2027) in which chief curator Jenny Jaskey invited Christopher Williams, Monika Baer, Aria Dean and Abraham Cruzvillegas to play a made-up game with a simple set of rules. Each artist must create a show with at least four objects; each following player must leave in place at least two objects from the previous show and incorporate them into their own exhibition. Jaskey likens it to the Surrealist game of exquisite corpse — or the reality show Survivor, "if you think of the objects in the room as castaways angling to make it to the end." Each player has three days to install, and the South Gallery closes between rounds (December 3–4, 2026; February 18–19, 2027; April 29–30, 2027).
The Game is curated by Jenny Jaskey, Chief Curator, with special thanks to WKCR 89.9 FM. Free admission; galleries open Thursday–Sunday, 12–6pm.
American Academy of Arts and Letters