Jacqueline Falcone

Hospitality is the art of making anyone feel at home. In Hospitality: Hosting Relations in Exhibitions, Beatrice von Bismarck and Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer argue that a curatorial situation is inherently an act of hospitality, as invitations and resources are being offered among institutions, artists, artworks, and audiences. But an invitation alone is not sufficient to make a person feel welcome. What are some correlations between hospitality and accessibility?

My curated selections of titles-on-loan are on shelves too high to reach naturally. I’ve placed a ladder inside the bookshelves, which visitors may climb to access the upper shelves. This is at once an invitation and a metaphor, a process necessary to engage the installation as well as a symbolic action that asks visitors to think critically about the obstacles, both structural and emotional, that we each face in the acquisition of knowledge.