Ex•Change–My Time for Your Time is a special exhibition and outreach project by ceramic artist Michael Strand organized at The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design in Asheville, NC. Michael invited people around Asheville to trade five hours of work in their community for one of his limited edition, handmade cups. We worked with Michael and Marilyn Zapf, assistant director/curator at CCCD to develop concepts, and create the identity, installation and collaterals for this exhibition.
The residents of a community form an intricate system and create possibilities or outcomes that can be achieved with the participation of each other. A community’s optimal performance can be achieved by the smooth and efficient functioning of its inhabitants who work in tandem, quite similar to the way gears help a clock display the accurate time. Using gears as the building units for the exhibition, we developed a system that was used to acknowledge and reward the participants of this outreach project.
The gear-wall installation and an Asheville map were created to record and visually represent the efforts of the participants.
Throughout the project, Michael worked in the gallery creating new cups (his gesture) and Ex.Changing them with participant efforts. Over time, the exhibition has evolved from a collection of cups to a display of the stories and artifacts documenting the collective community impact.
The classified section in the exhibition-space helped individuals promote their skills and reach out to others who could use their expertise. This section also helped people and organizations seek out experts for a particular job.
