Conversation Lab

An in-person text-based gathering of artists

Conversation Lab was born in 2023 out of a need for in-person connection, communion, and discourse in reaction to the isolation of the pandemic and the disembodiment of the internet. In exploring programming ideas, we interviewed local artists about what was needed in the Hudson Valley – the word on everyone’s lips was “conversation.” We are interested in the various artistic, personal, pedagogical, legal, and civic performances of conversation and how the vibrational space between is a seed for belief, movement, delineation, compromise, and invention. From these initial interviews and conversations, we co-developed a program for artists and academics who utilize textual research in their practice.

Each year, Glasshouse chooses a theme to unify its programming and guide the cohort of interdisciplinary artists in Conversation Lab. The thematic frame for 2026 is titled ‘Framing Air.’ As we reconstruct a ruined house with and for our community, we approach the site as an architecture undone. The house becomes a kind of window: open-ended, unsealed, neither interior nor exterior, and full of potential—air held temporarily by its broken frames. We invite artists to respond to Framing Air through gestures that work with air, freedom, and reframing in their expanded meanings. More about this thematic framework is discussed in the 2026 open call.

In the spirit of generosity and expanding the conversation, we will be archiving the titles of the texts read and key aspects of each conversation for an online database accessible to the public. Conversation Lab is a program co-created and facilitated by artist Shanti Grumbine and Glasshouse Director Lital Dotan.

Meet our 2025 Fellows

To House a River, is an ephemeral art show, born out of the 2025 Conversation Lab fellowship.