There’s something quietly magical that happens when you slow down long enough to really look.

That’s the spirit behind Material Witness, a one-night exhibition taking over the TQ Experience art and event space on Saturday, January 24, and a perfect example of why we believe art is one of the most powerful tools for creating place, connection, and community.

This show brings together three artists, three mediums, and a shared obsession with material, meaning, and memory. Not the flashy, scroll-past-it kind of screen art. It’s the kind of art that rewards curiosity, pulls you in, slows you down, and quietly rearranges how you think about value.

So…what’s actually going to be on the walls?

At first glance, you’ll see collages, paintings, sculpture, and jewelry. But spend a little more time, and you’ll realize this show is really about attention.

Glen Gauthier’s mixed-media collages take fragments of paper, images, and ephemera and reconstruct them with almost obsessive care. These are works that ask you to linger, scan, connect dots, and notice how meaning emerges from pieces that once lived entirely separate lives.
Anthony Adcock’s trompe l’oeil paintings and sculptures blur the line between what’s real and what’s rendered. Hyper-detailed, precise, and a little disorienting in the best way, his work insists on presence. Blink and you might miss what’s actually happening.
Joost van Rossum’s ancient coin jewelry may be the quiet show-stealers. Coins originally made for commerce are transformed into intimate, wearable objects. What once passed anonymously from hand to hand becomes deeply personal, tactile, and oddly emotional.

Across all three practices, familiar materials are removed from their original purpose and asked to carry memory, hold meaning, and to be witnessed.

Why this matters to us (and to the neighborhood)

At TQ Experience, we see art not as decoration, but as an activator. Shows like Material Witness are living demonstrations of Creative Placemaking. They turn a physical space into a gathering point. They invite conversation between strangers. They give people a reason to come together that isn’t transactional, rushed, or routine.

On this one night, our space becomes a gallery, salon, social room and a curiosity engine, all in one. There will be drinks. There will be music. There will be people bumping into each other, pointing at details, and saying things like, “Wait…is that really painted?” or “That used to be a coin…seriously?!”

That’s the point.

Material Witness
Saturday, January 24, 2026
5:00–9:00 pm
TQ Experience
1545 N. Western Ave., Chicago
Drinks, music, art, and very good reasons to slow down