Sala de Espera or Waiting Room is an artistic project conceived by San Diego artist Judith Pedroza. THIS IS A CITY put on display by the brother sister team of Alexander and Savannah Jarman is the waiting room’s second project to date. Pedroza views her waiting room as “a place of artistic exploration that does not aim to generate public objects, but rather to delve deep into the primary and private processes of an artist who is invited into my home, given his or her own key to come and go for a month creating an experience along the way.” However, there are several variables that can affect the outcome of these experiences, notably; the clarity of the concept and its execution given it’s someone’s apartment and not an art gallery. Hanging pictures on the wall will not suffice to create those experiences. 
And while apartment exhibitions aren’t a new idea – though they seemed to be when the economy tanked a few years back – it IS for San Diego. Pedroza should be praised and supported in this new endeavor. It is revolutionary, a Trojan horse storming the gates of our rather staid and conservative arts scene here. The willingness of both Pedroza and her husband to reside in the apartment during these experiences is also commendable – it is their home after all – and makes for an even more exciting and rare showing of support for the artists in the community. Should Pedroza relish her new curatorial role as much as she does making her own artwork, we will not be kept waiting long for new and adventurous exhibitions of local talent.
In THIS IS A CITY, Alexander and Savannah Jarman have constructed several towering (city?) effigies out of recuperated cardboard boxes, stacked and strung together like Russian nesting dolls of decreasing sizes that reach up to the apartment’s ceiling and then spread out like wildfire. These columns create a circuitous route through the apartment, impeding any normal comings and goings of someone who might be visiting or living there. They could also be made to feel like large redwood trees, their branches overhead or even stalactites, several of which have “dripped” down onto various bits of furniture. There are several fanciful combinations to be discovered as a kitchen table offers a precarious foundation.
