In ” * “, curated by Ninabah Winton, Sam Frésquez invites viewers into a dreamlike exploration of nested realities—a literal and metaphorical journey through time, memory, and intergenerational knowledge. Beginning with a life-sized kitchen that visitors can physically enter, the installation unfolds as a sequence of seven increasingly miniaturized versions of the same space. Each contains meticulously crafted furnishings that shrink proportionally, until reaching the smallest room, which is merely inches tall. This recursive architectural experience creates a visual tunnel that allows viewers to contemplate the compression and expansion of lived histories.

The installation’s robin’s egg blue interiors, deliberately contrasted with exposed construction materials on the exterior, evoke both the intimate familiarity of domestic space and the raw framework that supports our perception of reality. Through this juxtaposition, Frésquez examines how memory functions as both a container and that which is contained—a recursive loop where past experiences simultaneously shape and are shaped by the present understanding.

Drawing from her background in the American Southwest, Latin American mysticism, and quantum physics, Frésquez’s work speaks to the disorienting nature of schizophrenic time perception, where multiple realities can exist simultaneously. The installation references the “Groundhog Day” time-loop genre of storytelling while transcending mere repetition to explore how information, trauma, and wisdom transmit across generations—sometimes visible, sometimes concealed, but always present within the architecture of our lived experiences.

The title ” * ” frames the asterisk as a linguistic and symbolic portal—a connective mark that bridges separate textual moments and serves as a visual representation of the wormhole-like passage through Frésquez’s nested rooms. This punctuation mark embodies the exhibition’s central themes: connection across distance, the folding of time upon itself, and how meaning is both revealed and obscured through reference.

About the Artist:
A listener and maker, Sam Frésquez is interested in how information and lived experiences are passed intergenerationally. She uses concealment and containment to explore histories and memories conserved in land, architecture, and domestic environments. Most recently, Frésquez has used fiction and idiosyncratic logic to approach her relationship with institutional power systems, primarily the United States healthcare system. Drawing on an upbringing in the American Southwest, Latin American mysticism, oral history, and quantum physics, Frésquez choreographs video and sound installations and sculptures that use various materials and scales.

Sam Frésquez (she/they) was born in Mesa, Arizona. Frésquez currently lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut. Frésquez received her MFA in Sculpture at Yale in 2025 and her BFA from Arizona State University in Intermedia Art in 2019. Most recently, she was included in Get In The Game: Sports, Art, and Culture at SFMoMA, which will go on to travel to the Perez Art Museum in Miami and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. They have participated in numerous residency programs, including Xico Galeria (2017), Haystack Mountain School of Craft (2019), New York Arts Practicum (2019), Vermont Studio Center (2019), MASS MoCA Assets for Artists (2019), and CALA Alliance (2022). Along with her work, she shares a collaborative practice with Merryn Omotayo Alaka entitled Hairland (2017-present). Lisa Sette Gallery represents Frésquez.

BACK TO SPATIAL POEMS.

Spatial Poems is part of MASS MoCA’s Curatorial Exchange Initiative (CEI). The CEI is an exploratory pilot for how contemporary museums work collaboratively with curators and artists, whose diverse practices and knowledge can be exchanged, supported, and deepened. The three-year program invites six curators to realize curatorial projects at MASS MoCA and in the North Adams community. The CEI is generously supported through leadership gifts from Sarah Arison and the Arison Arts Foundation, Michi Jigarjian, Denise Sobel, the Teiger Foundation, and Yukiko and Anders Schroeder. Additional support is provided by the Director’s Catalyst Fund, with generous contributions from Greg and Anne Avis, Kelly and Bill Kaiser, Steve and Lisa Jenks, Bob Gold, and an anonymous donor.

Installation images: Sam Frésquez, *, 2025-ongoing. Mixed media, variable dimensions. Installation view at Yale School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut, 2025. Courtesy of the artist. Photo credit: Oresti Tsonopoulos.