Gallery Thing is an artist-curated event that premiered in October 2025. Created by artists and educators Adrienne Economos Miller and Language Models, this one-night-a-month show pairs visual artists with local DJs to create an immerse experience inside the beloved MKeUltra, a Milwaukee hardcore music venue gaining popularity for its offerings of free beans and rice, midcentury furniture, and welcoming owner Brian Hospital. The artists face two hard rules: 1. Nothing must be for sale, and 2. The art must include some aspect of audience engagement/interaction.
The organizers requested that I do something “erotic.” I decided to curate a relationship between the audience and the artist that on the surface appeared to be a exhibitionist/voyeur dynamic—I, the exhibitionist would be trapped in a box (very literally screwed in and unable to exit) and on display for the audience, the voyeurs, to sit and watch me work. But as people began to explore the space and engage with the performance, the roles seemed less cut and dry.
The rules—posted clearly upon entry— read:
Submit to your sexual fantasies
1. Locate pencil and paper
2. In detail, write dow your sexual fantasy
3. Deliver paper to the window located on the box
One fantasy per paper, unlimited submissions allowed • Anonymity is required, do not sign your name on the paper • You are encouraged to • approach the box and observe • take photos of the box •write your fantasies and submit them to the box • fantasize about the man in the box • YOU MAY NOT SPEAK TO OR INTERACT WITH THE MAN IN THE BOX
At first, the audience felt in control. They could disregard the rules, slip me personal notes, try to get my attention, submit jokes and force me to illustrate them. But I only stayed calm, detached, and painted without hesitation with the same seriously each paper I received. It became clear that I was the one in control, and that tension became hypnotic, powerful, and commanding.
After 4 hours of nonstop painting with no food or water breaks, a written submission was passed into the box announcing the end of the performance. A power drill was lowered into the box, I unscrewed one of the panels, and the show ended when I emerged. I had completed 50 illustrations in 4 hours with more submissions yet to be completed.
The box was disassembled and the painting stored to be scanned in at a future date.
In addition to creating the performance box and instructional signs, I hand painted 18 signs based on typography and copy from porno theaters from the 1970s-1990s in San Francisco, LA, NYC, and Newark, NJ. These were assembled into furniture-like sculptures, including a coatrack, a side table, and a drawing horse, which I allowed the audience to deface. advertisements from 1980s porno mags (Honcho and Gents) were scanned and copied onto bright papers and then pasted onto the sculptures, accompanied by paint washes, mixtures of glue and dirt, and wear and tear from getting thrown across a parking lot and hit with hammers to weather them.