08/13/2026
"Demolition by Neglect: Research and Residues," a solo exhibition By Marian April Glebes – on view through Sunday, Sept 13, 2026.
In historic preservation, "demolition by neglect" names a particular kind of violence: not the wrecking ball, but the slow withdrawal of care. A roof left unpatched. A gutter left to overflow. A structure allowed, deliberately or otherwise, to fail under its own weight until failure becomes the justification for its removal. It is a term invented to describe what happens to buildings, but it names something I recognize at a smaller, more intimate scale — the scale of a single household, a single room, a single relationship to the walls that shelter us. What happens when neglect is not an accident of policy or absentee ownership, but a private, ongoing choice? What does it mean to live inside a structure that is not being maintained, and to know that the not-maintaining is itself a message?
"Demolition by Neglect: Research and Residues" takes up this question through the material vocabulary of the Baltimore home: drywall, dust, joint compound, graphite and oil on paper, and other salvaged fragments drawn from my own domestic spaces and places. These are not metaphors I have imported from elsewhere. They are the literal substance of walls — the skin of a house, and the material most often called upon to disguise a wound rather than to address what caused it. Joint compound smooths a crack; it does not ask why the crack appeared. This exhibition asks that question instead, using the tools of documentation, cultural landscape analysis, and conceptual art practice to slow down and look closely at what usually goes unexamined: the accumulated evidence of care given, care withheld, and the long residue left behind by both.
Read more and view available works at currentspace.com
Exhibition Duration: July 31 - Sept 13, 2026
Closing Reception & Artist Talk: Sunday, Sept 13
Gallery Hours: Saturdays from 1-5pm, during public events, or by appointment
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