Within the exhibition and participatory project Center for Wish Research at Central School Project, artists Kari Marboe and Erin Colleen Johnson considered the form, function, and history behind the objects we wish upon. By beginning with an act generally deemed light-hearted and apolitical, the artists sparked conversations with residents and visitors about their desires, hopes, and fears for themselves, their families, and the Bisbee community.

Marboe and Johnson held free, public programs with wishbones, birthday cupcakes, and a mobile wishing well at locations all over Bisbee, a post-mining town of Southern Arizona, during their week long stay. Locations included Bisbee High School (where the artists also gave a talk and led an activity), Grassy Park, the farmer’s market, and inside Central School Project. Every participant was given a button that read “I made a wish for Bisbee.” By the end of the project over four hundred wishes had been made and the buttons were traveling around town on coats, backpacks and hats.

Marboe and Johnson captured videos of residents making wishes and gave the information back to the city upon their departure.

Central School Project
Erin Colleen Johnson