a smile, they said - A Mural by Antje Schiffers and Thomas Sprenger April 4, 2013

Everyone is welcome at the Skirball Cultural Center, yet every encounter is unique, inflected by culture, age, and origin. This is the theme of a smile, they said, a new site-specific mural created by Antje Schiffers and Thomas Sprenger as part of their Let Me Show You Around project. For the project, Schiffers and Sprenger were in residence at the Skirball for two weeks. During their stay, they interviewed members of the Skirball community about ideas of welcome. Staff, docents, and volunteers shared a diverse array of images with the artists, ranging from penguins
to patio chairs to challah bread. Some participants spoke of paradisiacal landscapes; others referred to American customs as well as rituals rooted in Jewish tradition. Out of these plural expressions the artists developed the work a smile, they said, a blend of wall art, paintings on wood, and text, on view in the Ruby Gallery, one of the Skirball’s most communal spaces. The result is a fascinating composite of more than eighty distinct voices unified into one.

Official Website: http://www.skirball.org/exhibitions/a-smile-they-said