The Agate Box

Ian James

September 26 – November 7, 2026

Opening Reception: Saturday September 26

6-9pm

Solar Noon

911 Evans St.

6th floor

Cincinnati, Ohio 45204

Ian James is interested in how ordinary objects become imbued with esoteric value through social agreement and ritual construction. At their core, the works ask how belief becomes material and generate ritual practices that bring the body into contact with spiritual technology. His installations investigate how systems of belief become embedded in material culture through ritual, repetition, and collective agreement. Modelled after research into reliquaries and shrines, the work explores how personal value is assigned to ordinary objects and how spiritual and ideological investments persist through material culture.