Artists: Theresa Anderson, Clay Yoga Sculpt (Andrew Castañeda, Erin Conyers, Casey Whittier), Fike & Harris, Tobias Fike, Ian Fisher, Matthew Harris, Daisy McGowan, Marissa Shell, Summer Ventis, Emily Blair Quinn, Rebecca Vaughan, Kathryn Wingard, Xi Zhang
The group exhibition, Parade, is a collaborative effort between Hyperlink Art Collective and local Kansas City creatives curated by Tobias Fike and Marissa Shell at Charlotte Street Foundation. Hyperlink’s mission as an art collective is to foster tangible connections with others through art while also dissolving the boundaries of what art can be and how it can be experienced. We are open to exploring new territory and the unknown.
As indicative of many of our projects Hyperlink sent out a prompt, “parade,” for each artist to explore through their own perspectives and creative practice. As artists started sending in ideas formulating the exhibition it became clear that much of the work was interpreting “parade” loosely and abstractly exploring wide and varied sensorial experiences, as well as a collective show of strength marked by a sense of community.
Parade includes works such as Rebecca Vaughan’s series of delicate ink/gouache umbrella drawings recalling the fabric of a bustling community at NOLA/Second Line parades (see artist’s essay).
A live collaborative performance artwork by Fike and Anderson was initially written to explore ideas around the momentum and cadence of participants in a parade.
“Through the honoring of the potential of the artwork to shift as we navigated the experience with the audience- other layers such as the weight of spaces between, (wait), awkward disruptions, fragility, and small moments of humor ensued.”-Theresa Anderson
Marissa Shell’s floating crocheted and felted green clouds that resemble floats morph and shift multi-dimensionally as well as referencing the meticulous labor that attends traditional community float building.
Interestingly four artists, Emily Blair Quinn, Tobias Fike and Matt Harris, and Xi Zhang interpreted the prompt of “parade” by evoking somewhat hallucinogenetically distorted faces evoke the feeling of being swept up in the constant flow of a parade- a remembering of sense of space but not distinct visual memories. As an example, Fike and Harris’ collaborative sculpture utilize distorted cloth faces that ooze off simple metal structures.
Summer Ventis’ parade of balloon monotypes asks us to consider the wonder of encountering a flow of similar objects entering our field of vision, the beauty of the detritus left on the street after a parade, and the picking up by hand each piece of litter.
Theresa Anderson’s sculpture, powerline (site conditioner) connects and disrupts space as would an abstracted rainbow ticker banner. Imagining future time where parade remnants on mainstreet are underwater or in a blizzard- powerline is made for grasping in blind space or standing on a tightrope.
Charlotte Street Gallery
3333 Wyoming Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
Exhibition Dates: June 27 – August 16, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, June 27 6-9pm
Fike + Anderson performance live: Friday, June 27 8pm
Interchange: Social Practice in Conversation Saturday, August 9, 2025 programming from 2-6pm
Over the past year, 16 Interchange fellows have gathered to explore and develop the professional aspects of their socially-engaged creative practices. Fellows are completing the program with a regional network of peer artists and the strategic framework to manage enduring artistic careers. The Interchange program concludes with a public-facing event with fellows sharing their work and discussing the field of social practice.
This event will take place in person on Saturday, August 9, 2025 at the Charlotte Street’s Black Box Theater at 3333 Wyoming St., in Kansas City, Missouri, from 2:00–6:00 p.m.
Each fellow will give 5-minute individual WorkShare presentations that highlight their socially engaged creative practices from 2:00–4:00 p.m. Then, the Social Practice in Conversation panel discussion will follow from 4:30–5:45 p.m.
The panel discussion is an opportunity for artist reflection and connection across geographies and identities. Using their own practice as a starting point, Interchange artists and moderators José Faus, Kendell Harbin, and Justin Tyler Bryant will engage the audience in a broader conversation about social practice. This dialogue will explore how social practice unfolds across the Mid-America Arts Alliance six-state region, highlighting the specific challenges and rewards that come with an artistic social practice.
It is free and open to the public. RSVPs are encouraged.
Attendees are welcome to attend any portion or all of the event.
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