Charles Gaines presents his first Paris exhibition, 'Ciphering African Acacias and Supreme Court Decisions', opening June 10, 2026, at Hauser & Wirth Paris. The show features new works from his 'Numbers and Trees' series—nine Plexiglas pieces based on acacia trees photographed in Tanzania in 2023—alongside 'Manifestos 7' (2026), a musical and video installation that translates U.S. Supreme Court rulings into musical notation. The exhibition continues Gaines' decades-long conceptual practice of using rule-based systems to explore perception, identity, and social structures.
The exhibition matters because it brings together two major strands of Gaines' work—natural systems and legal texts—demonstrating how systematic methods can reveal hidden layers of meaning in both landscape and law. By converting landmark court decisions like Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education into music, Gaines connects visual art to urgent conversations about race, justice, and collective memory. The show also signals Hauser & Wirth's deepening commitment to Gaines' practice, with a group exhibition in Menorca and a forthcoming publication of his writings.