For Field of Play's inaugural presentation we are thrilled to present a group show featuring Simone Meltesen, Debbi Kenote, Chris Daharsh, Matt Logsdon, and Abelardo Cruz Santiago. We are revisiting the familiar children’s game of “Duck Duck Goose.” The structure of the game warrants our consideration. Sports fields are designed to contain; when the boundary is reached, action stops. Not so in Duck Duck Goose. Participants create a circular playing field that is defined by a central negative space and has the potential to expand outward indefinitely. In this group show, we consider an artistic field where individuals are unbound by limits and binaries related to identity, representation, and process.

As we look deeper at the game, we are drawn to its inclusivity and democracy. Distinct from other schoolyard games, there is no limit to the number of players in the circle. The role of "Duck-er," whose "Goose"-choosing pushes the game onward, rotates through the field of players. There are no winners or losers; if the game goes on long enough, all players experience both the anxiety of waiting and the thrill of being chosen.

We think it's the perfect game to juxtapose the cultural moment we find ourselves in. We are in the midst of a societal reexamination of categorization and labeling, the result of which has sometimes produced more boundaries and binaries, just with new names. We count ourselves fortunate to be part of an artistic community that has the potential to be expansive and include all who want to play.

Each artist in Duck Duck Goose deals with boundaries in their own way, redefining binaries related to sexuality, race, class, and gender through their use of space, color, materials, and ways of making.