About the Exhibition
Bus Shelters II by Dennis Adams (b.1948, Des Moines, IA) exhibits three different graphic changes and will be sold to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Like Bus Shelter I, Bus Shelter II incorporates enlarged historical photographs with text in order to engage diverse public opinion around highly charged historical images that are already beginning to fade from public consciousness.
Simulating a kind of mirror-image of itself, this new shelter more literally addresses its function as both an object to be used and studied. The photographic text changes during the course of the installation period.
In dislocating the conventional relationship between architecture, photographs and text, Adams’s intention is to “unlayer” the manipulative role of advertising within the context of public space. The artist’s message, however, is not didactic. He chooses to sidestep any given message in favor of engaging the public in an active critical role.