202

Call and Response, a global artist collaboration program that has connected over 500 artists across six continents since 2020, makes its first physical iteration at Startup Art Fair LA.

After 20+ digital rounds of rapid-fire creative exchanges during the pandemic, this exhibition marks a significant evolution: 190 artists were randomly paired to create collaborative books together over four months. Partners worked either by mailing physical books back and forth internationally or creating pieces individually and combining them—navigating time zones, language barriers, shipping logistics, and completely different artistic approaches to produce works that neither artist could have conceived alone.

Room 202 will showcase approximately 90 collaborative artist books across all mediums—from altered vintage volumes to handmade constructions, accordion books, visual puzzles, oracle decks, and sculptural interpretations. The intimate hotel suite setting allows visitors to interact closely with each unique work, displayed throughout the space on beds, tables, and dressers.

This is a selling exhibition with works split equally between the two collaborating artists and Shoebox Arts. Each book represents the artifact of a four-month creative conversation between strangers who became collaborators through Call and Response's signature random pairing method—a model that continues to prove quality collaboration doesn't require institutional gatekeepers, just radical trust in the creative process.