Basic Essentials

These images document an RCMA video installation from a two-part traveling exhibition titled: Basic Essentials. Part 1 opened at Charlotte Street Foundation’s La Esquina Gallery in Kansas City, MO on May 11, 2018. Part 2 debuted at Royal NoneSuch Gallery in Oakland, CA on July 14, 2018.

Curated by Zoë Taleporos, the exhibition featured three artists from each city; Mark Benson, Brandon Forrest Frederick, Mik Gaspay, The Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives, Laura Rokas, and William Toney. Basic Essentials was an exhibition about objects – how they are used to construct identity, create a sense of belonging or isolation, offer or deprive us of agency. In RCMA’s featured installation 1 channel of video played the digitized home video of Melissa Steihler, the other channel played a recording of Steihler commenting on the video from inside her bedroom closet.

You can learn more about the show and the artists featured here on the Royal Nonesuch website or in this review by Camile Messerly on the Informality Blog website.