First Light

Accompanying CA’s exhibition "500 places at once", supported by the Poetry Center Tucson and MOCA Tucson.

500 Places at Once is an ongoing exhibition, from September 13, 2024 – February 16, 2025, centering poet CAConrad. The exhibition features a newly commissioned collection of three-dimensional poem sculptures, along with a reading room with publications from Fivehundred places, a small press established by the artist Jason Dodge.

Conrad states “my poems are breathing wild creatures. They stand on the bottom of the page, vibrating in the center of their bodies.” Their poem-sculptures are scaled to the body and, collectively, resemble a forest or a gathering of mysterious creatures.

CAConrad has worked with the ancient technologies of poetry and ritual since 1975. They received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a PEN Josephine Miles Award, a Creative Capital grant, a Pew Fellowship, and a Lambda Award. They exhibit poems as art objects with recent solo shows in Tucson, Arizona, as well as in Spain and Portugal. They teach at the Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam.