Artist Adam Tendler’s “Exit Strategy” Displays “Accidental Inheritances” Left by the Dead

Tendler collected everyday items from nearly 100 donors.
Photo by Adam Tendler, via AMNY

After putting out the call for artifacts of all kinds left behind by the dead — ranging from a piano to friendship bracelets to VHS tapes — Adam Tendler’s “Exit Strategy” displays nearly 100 such items contributed from the community in Brooklyn, New York. An added twist to the already-unique exhibit is that it’s on display at the borough’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery, as Tendler is their current artist-in-residence.

A cemetery may not immediately strike one as a hub for contemporary art, but New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery, in addition to serving as the resting place for over half a million dead, is also a thriving community center for the living. Teeming with various exhibits, musical events, and permanent installations inspired by the verdant, 86-year-old cemetery, Adam Tendler’s “Exit Strategy” is a thought-provoking reflection on everyday life, death, and the connections between people that might result in “accidental inheritances.”

A close-up of collected items.
Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk, via NY Post

Prompted by the recent death of his father, Tendler, a concert pianist and Vermont native now residing in Brooklyn, told the New York Post, “[Some] of the only stuff I have of his is underwear and socks and some of his pajamas.” Tendler received items from donors throughout the spring and summer, listening to each story, and considers the exhibit to be about “[…] the connections and the intimacy that is shared between loved ones and the complexities between those relationships.”

Visitors can peruse the exhibit, which is accompanied by a soundtrack of Tendler’s piano compositions, to take in arrangements comprised of shoes, underwear, paintings, notes, and more, left behind by people who’ve died. They can also write notes to their own departed, which become part of the display.

One uniquely storied item is a seashell hanging on the wall, given to Tendler by a teacher who’d held onto it for over 30 years. It was presented to her by a young student who was diagnosed with AIDS in childhood, and had a Make-A-Wish trip to Florida to see the ocean. He later died and she kept the shell, though she’s now ready to let it go.

The piano and clothing atop it are among the donated items.
Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk, via NY Post

Adam Tendler’s “Exit Strategy” is open on weekends from 11am-4pm until September 22nd, at Green-Wood Cemetery’s Fort Hamilton gate, and is free to visit. The closing of the exhibit will include a ritualistic ceremony — Tendler initially had planned to ceremonially destroy the items, though was too moved by the stories to do so. He asserts he will either mindfully repurpose the items or keep them as his own accidental inheritance.