Iron bars recast as glass with sonic reverberations. Concrete walls made porous by precisely cut holes. A building disappearing into clouds, piece by piece. In Compositions, Chicago-based artist Maria Gaspar’s first solo exhibition on the West Coast, artworks are acts of alchemy. And video footage and debris salvaged from the demolition of a wing of the Cook County Department of Corrections, the largest single-site jail in the United States, becomes the material with which to build a liberated world.

Compositions features newly commissioned and existing works from the award-winning artist. From public actions, sound broadcasts, sculptures, paintings, to videos, for more than a decade Gaspar has explored the role of art within the collective struggle against the United States carceral system. The exhibition is organized as part of Visualizing Abolition, an arts-based initiative that reaches across prison borders to contribute to the unfolding collective story and alternative imagining underway to create a future free of prisons.

ADMISSION

• Free and open to the public by appointment only
• Ongoing exhibition: September 26, 2023 – March 3, 2024
• Gallery hours are by appointment only from Tue–Sat, 12-5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays)
• Please visit ias.ucsc.edu/visit/ for more information

PARKING

• Free parking 
• Accessible parking on High Rd.