Exhibits & Events

Octopus & Others: Acts of Collaboration & Poetics

August 6 – November 15, 2026

El Museo del Barrio is proud to present Octopus & Others: Acts of Collaboration & Poetics, an exhibition inspired by a significant project from the museum’s history by artist, poet, and Exit Art co-founder Papo Colo. Octopus: An Act of Sculpture (1982)—an accordion-style outdoor book composed of eight-by-four-foot plywood panels—was first staged in El Museo’s courtyard in 1982.

Anchored by a recent gift of several panels from the project to El Museo’s Permanent Collection, Octopus & Others brings together collection works, archival materials, and select loans to explore collaboration as a creative practice between artists and poets and artworks that destabilize the book format.