Oh Hai, Versailles by Eden Collins— a sculptural, and video performance — transforms our gallery into a modern grassy lawn populated by Rococo-style lawn equipment and tools that cheekily critique our obsession with aesthetic landscaping over integrated agrarian spaces. The installation draws a direct line from the grandeur of Versailles Palace to the American lawn. Tracing how 18th-century French displays of aristocratic power were carried to the colonies, equated with moral character by the mid-1800s, and cemented into suburban culture through the 20th century. All while water-thirsty turf grasses displaced our native ecosystems. By applying the ornate visual language of pre-Revolution French aristocracy to contemporary functional tools, the exhibition asks viewers to confront their own role in maintaining spaces that feed our eyes but not our mouths — and to consider just who we're being a "good neighbor" for.

Special thanks to Daniel May, Michelle Dummer, Jan Collins, Jay Collins, Mallory Collins, Ann Bray, Maria Miller, Daniel Hernandez, and Curt Evans.