Artists Space

Architecture & Design Project Series:
The House that Herman Built

October 12 – December 8, 2007

Curated by Joseph del Pesco

A colored pencil rendering of a prison cell is contained inside a rectangular box with rounded edges, floating on a white lined sheet of paper. A pink heart in motion extends beyond the confines of the cell and onto lined paper.
Herman Wallace. Drawing. [A colored pencil rendering of a prison cell is contained inside a rectangular box with rounded edges, floating on a white lined sheet of paper. A pink heart in motion extends beyond the confines of the cell and onto lined paper.]

The House that Herman Built involves a collaboration between the artist and activist Jackie Sumell and the inmate and Black Panther Herman Wallace. Their conversation took focus when, in 2002, Sumell asked Wallace the question: “What kind of a house does a man who has lived in a six-foot-by-nine-foot cell for over 30 years dream of?” Since then the project has grown into a publication, including 5 years of conversation with Wallace, an architectural fly-through video narrated by Robert King Wilkerson (also a member of the Angola 3, released in 2001), and exhibitions in Germany and Ireland. More recent developments include an article in the New York Times by Chris Colin, the production of blue-prints for the house by architect Scott Gustofson, and the beginning of a documentary film by Angad Bhalla.

For the exhibition at Artists Space, the first time the project as a whole will be exhibited in the United States, Sumell will present a timeline of their collaboration, a recreation of Herman’s cell, the fly-through video and other materials. A poster including the blueprints, and a conversation between exhibition curator Joseph del Pesco and Sumell will also be available.

Jackie Sumell (born 1973) is an American multidisciplinary artist and activist whose work interrogates the abuses of the American criminal justice system. Jackie Sumell’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe, including at Project Row House, Houston; the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore; Royal College of Art, London; Akademie Schloss-Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany; St. Etienne Biennale, France; Alternator Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia; Prospect 1, New Orleans; and ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Herman Wallace (born 1941) has lived in solitary confinement for more than 40 years in prison in Louisiana, longer than any other prisoner in U.S. history. Wallace, who became known as one of the “Angola 3,” was convicted of the 1972 murder of a prison guard.

    A freestanding room, constructed from wood and resembling a prison cell, sits in the center of a gallery space, its door ajar. A model of a building sits on a pedestal to the left of the wooden prison cell. On the wall, a vinyl quote reads: WHAT KIND OF HOUSE DOES / A MAN WHO HAS LIVED IN A / SIX-FOOT BY NINE-FOOT CELL / FOR OVER 35 YEARS DREAM OF?
    The House that Herman Built. Installation view, Artists Space, 2007. [A freestanding room, constructed from wood and resembling a prison cell, sits in the center of a gallery space, its door ajar. A model of a building sits on a pedestal to the left of the wooden prison cell. On the wall, a vinyl quote reads: WHAT KIND OF HOUSE DOES / A MAN WHO HAS LIVED IN A / SIX-FOOT BY NINE-FOOT CELL / FOR OVER 35 YEARS DREAM OF?]