OFFICE DIALOGUES, (2017). As part of the “LINES DRAWN” exhibition at the DiverseWorks in the fall of 2017, I installed my office desk (originally my father’s) in order to engage in philosophical dialogues with visitors, viewers and participants to the gallery space about basic external human rights. The concepts incorporate the meaning of extraterritorial space and citizenship. Conversations led to the proposition of expanded definitions of citizenship as internally realized entitlements. The office desk’s transference introduces issues about the loci of authority and how culture and information are conveyed, exchanged and arbitrated.

A major part of Office Dialogs physical presence in the gallery space is the inclusion of a fabricated, scale model of the facade my L.O.C.C.A.: Law Office Center for Citizenship and Art project, suspended above the desk and visitor seating. The portico transforms every week with a change of the statement shingles and mimics the L.O.C.C.A. project facade. The statements reflect evocative and internal senses of what it means to be a fulfilled citizen. The signs are written in Spanish to reflect the bilingual character of the predominately Hispanic residents of the neighborhood where L.O.C.C.A. resides. The statement shingles collect and accumulate at the base of the desk. The Office Dialog installation was in a constant state of change.