Alex Heard

Exhibition: Question Machine 

April 16 - August 10, 2025

In Question Machine, Alex Heard crafts a vibrant, plush world that balances humor, irony, and sincerity to explore blunt truths about failure, misunderstanding, and shame. Populated by wearable inflatable characters, animated objects, and lively installations, this realm invites viewers to engage with a soft, colorful environment that reveals pain and anxiety through a lens of coziness and empathy. The plush characters serve as mascots for emotional expression, offering an earnest, whimsical perspective on navigating life's harsh realities.

During Heard’s residency, their focus will be on deepening artist-audience communication, enhancing technical skills, and exploring live performance as a medium for meaningful engagement. They aim to create a flagship inflatable character interacting with plush props and other installation elements. This performance will be clumsy, noisy, and irresistibly playful, blurring the lines between audience and performer. Heard’s work offers a transformative lens, turning life’s complexities into spaces of laughter, understanding, and softness.