Dennis Adams Bus Shelters II

Bus Shelters II by Dennis Adams (b. 1948, Des Moines, IA) exhibits three different graphic changes and will be sold to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Like Bus Shelter I, Bus Shelter II incorporates enlarged documentary 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 an object both to be used and studied. The photograph and text changes during the course of the installation.

In dislocating the conventional relationship between architecture, photographs, and text, Adams’ 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.