Telephone, a new exhibition organized by artist Rachel Lebo, offers a new twist on a traditional childhood game. Where the original game sees a whisper passed from one person to another, with the message changing and morphing as it gets further and further away from the first idea, the exhibition instead passed the original “whisper” from artist to writer to be expressed in their chosen form.

The project will debut over the course of two days at a new Midtown venue, the CURIOSITY building, home of STL.org, a non-profit dedicated to spotlighting the dynamic, often unsung creatives and community organizations of St. Louis. The exhibition opens Friday, February 7, and a panel discussion with eight of the nine artists will be held on February 8 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Organizer Rachel Lebo says she thinks the panel will provide dynamic insight into the unique project. “What’s so cool about this project is the practice of collaborating with people and being a part of it. I think it’ll be interesting to view [the gallery], but I think it’s almost more interesting to hear about the experience of it or to talk through what the translations from visual to written work are like,” Lebo says. 

Lebo was responsible for securing grant funding for the project, which came from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis after almost four years of trying. She was also the first artist to begin this particular “whisper,” which lasted from June to December of 2024, with about three weeks for each person to develop their work. 

“This was born from an interest in getting the visual art community to share networks with the writing community,” Lebo says. “I’m on the visual arts side, but writers have always been such an important inspiration for me. I found that I know about a lot of gallery openings, but I wasn’t really hearing about when an author is coming [to town] or when I could go to a reading.”

After the first three weeks of creating an art piece around her idea, Lebo passed it off to the first writer, Crystal Odelle, who used it as a starting point for a written piece. In another three weeks, the written work was passed off to another artist, who then continued the cycle. The collaborators on the project include Lebo, Odelle,  Allena Marie Brazier, Meg Cass, Jen Everett, Samantha Neu, Marina May Schleicher, Jen Wohlner, and William Youngblood

While the project is focused on local artists and writers, Lebo says that in the future the project might help to connect various cities. “I have a network of people, like most people do, [but] I tried really hard not to just include people that are already in my life. There are some artists that I’ve just observed from afar, and I really tried to get a wide breadth of practices that are very different,” Lebo says. 

While the created works have been teased on the projects’ Instagram, Telephone will be the first time the art and written works—including sculptures, paintings, poetry, and a multitude of other media—are unveiled to the public. Participating writers were challenged to present their written works in a more dynamic visual way, leading to exciting reveals audiences will surely not want to miss. 

Telephone opens at the CURIOSITY building, 3033 Locust, on February 7 from 6-9 p.m. A panel discussion will be held on February 8 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.