We’re Open, Come In: The House Life Project

We’re Open, Come In: The House Life Project. Installation View. Photo by DePauw University Art Gallery.
Gallery 924 at the arts council of Indianapolis. IN. 2018.
DePauw University Art Gallery. Greencastle, IN. 2019.

From 2015 through 2017 the House Life Project (HLP) reimagined abandoned houses on Indianapolis’s Near Eastside as hubs for artistic practice and community collaboration. It was a flexible and collaborative project where artists and neighbors formed new relationships, strengthened existing ones, and pooled their creativity in order to examine tough questions related to the changing neighborhood. We’re Open, Come In: The House Life Project transformed the gallery into an inclusive and welcoming space that invited visitors to learn about the HLP, its methods, and its community. Through an array of artworks and interactive installations, the exhibition sparked conversations about neighborliness, housing inequity, and the ways in which art can and can’t facilitate social justice.

Curated by Laura Holzman in collaboration with HLP community members and IUPUI Museum Studies Students. We’re Open, Come In featured work by Brent Aldrich, Stevie Barlow, Kurtis Bowersock, Meredith Brickell, Zaviera Garth, Michelle Given, Chris Hill, Marvea Hill, Katie Hudnall, Andrea Jandernoa, Jordan Munson, Rebecca Pappas, Brittany Pendleton, Bailey Shannon, Early Tinsley, and Christopher Williams.