Melissa Stern: The Talking Cure

Upper Tarlow Gallery

This multimedia exhibition by New York artist Melissa Stern combines the visual, literary, and performance arts and a spirited cast of characters formed from clay. Taking its name from Sigmund Freud’s original description of psychoanalysis, The Talking Cure centers Stern’s twelve ceramic sculptures, each one born from her own imagination. To bring them to life, the artist invited twelve writers to create inner monologues for each of the characters and twelve actors to perform them for audio recordings. Viewers are encouraged to scan QR codes to listen to the audio performances in order to inhabit the artists’ minds and become part of the characters’ worlds.