Christine Wong Yap, rice cooker piñata, 2015

This week, Lauren Frances Adams and I will present new participatory projects in this exhibition inspired by garage sales. I’ve been thinking about non-attachment—letting go, and being less of a control freak. I’ve made some piñatas; come destroy them.

Lauren Frances Adams and Christine Wong Yap share interests in how objects and possessions are imbued with meaning. a handle, a stem, a hook, a ring, a loop is a collaborative installation of imaginative objects and paintings that explore desire, loss, and non-attachment.

Garages often serve as surplus storage, but the lack of excess space in NYC inspired Wong Yap to make papier-mâché piñatas of objects that she would like to own but cannot store, such as cooking appliances and woodworking tools. The exhibition culminates on Saturday with a ‘non-attachment piñata party,’ where the confetti-filled piñatas will be available for the public to hit and destroy in a gesture of letting go.

Adams invites strangers to submit a story of their personal desires and burdens to prompt a painting, resulting in a display of the finished artworks that will be exchanged with their new owners after the close of the show. Inspired by the exchange found at garage sales and on internet websites like Craigslist, Adams performs a ‘service’ to solicit the hidden appreciations and antagonisms between strangers and their possessions. http://somethinglostortolose.tumblr.com/

Exhibition/project series: Whitney Lynn: Rummage
Artists: Wong Kit Yi, Kai Vierstra, SeoKyeong Lee Yoon, Christine Wong Yap and Lauren Frances Adams
Rummage: June 6–June 29, 2015

Projects by Lauren Frances Adams and Christine Wong Yap:
a handle, a stem, a hook, a ring, a loop:
Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26, 3-8pm; Saturday, June 27, 1-6pm
Open Source Gallery, 306 17th Street, Brooklyn, NY

Look for our Instagram takeover now through Saturday: @cwongyap @cornfield_alley @opensourcegallery #OpenSourceTakeover