WASHINGTON -- Remember Agnes Bolt, the artist who lived in a plexiglass bubble in collector Philippa Hughes' condominium for a week to see what would happen when the artist herself became part of the collection?
She's back in D.C., with a solo exhibit at Project 4.
The exhibit, called "Dealing," explores the Pittsburgh-and-Brooklyn based artist's relationship with two D.C. art collectors -- Hughes, and Philip Barlow, with whom Bolt had a week-long "virtual" relationship during which they shared incriminating information over the Internet, and listened to one another's heartbeats via live audio feed for an entire night.
Bolt turned the heartbeat experience into a sculpture of a pillow attached to headphones playing a seven-hour audio piece of breathing and night-time sounds. The shared incriminating information will be presented on an iPad. Bolt's stay in Hughes' condo was recorded on video that's been turned into a sculpture that can be seen but not watched; it's "present but inaccessible," Bolt said -- a metaphor for Bolt's experience living with Hughes. "We had a really complicated and interesting week."
The plexiglass bubble that Bolt lived in during her stay at Hughes' residence will also be part of the exhibit -- crawling into it it, gallery-goers can hear audio recordings of Bolt's and Hughes' complicated week together -- though Bolt will not be living in the bubble while she's in town for the show. Instead, she'll be crashing with a friend.
"I'm going to be human this time and stay in a bed," she said.
The exhibit runs at Project 4 (1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor) from Oct. 22 through Nov. 26. The opening reception is Saturday, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
