Opening Reception: Friday, January 4, 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. 

Open Office + Ext. 1708 is a research-driven, participatory project held during the month of January. 1708 invites participants to come to the gallery and engage in this project: read, collect, discuss, and inquire!

Open Office is informed by the concepts, discussions, and inquiries that circumscribe 1708’s 2019 exhibitions. Through a print and online shared research library –in which the gallery will serve as a physical locale– readings and other materials will be available for public exploration and collection. Artists involved in recent and forthcoming exhibitions were invited to provide textual materials that they deemed relevant to their practice, project at 1708, and/or interests. Documents that are part of the curatorial research are provided in addition to artist submissions. Open Office does not intend to establish a fully developed, resolute image of specific upcoming exhibitions; rather by opening the artistic and curatorial research to the public it allows for dynamic and uncertain assemblages of thoughts and trajectories to emerge.

Ext. 1708 is an online, discursive platform consisting of a journal, archive, and shared research library. As part of and in parallel to Open Office, Ext. 1708 will be re-designed to, at once, be the online component to Open Office, and in the coming months launch again as a fully functioning online journal. This project stems from the exciting programmatic shifts at 1708 while maintaining our commitment to being host to artistic inquiry and public engagement with all forms of creative production.

Graphic and Exhibition Design by Junyun Chen. Chen is an independent graphic designer and art director based in New York City. He works across both digital and print platforms for collaborators within the fields of culture,  education and commerce. He recently graduated from the VCU School of Arts with an MFA in Graphic Design.

2019 Artists: Massa Lemu, Sable Elyse Smith, Brian Palmer and Erin Holloway, Aaron MacIntosh, Alan Ruiz, Xavier Mary, and Jesse Chun.