Common Ground Through Conversation
ICA Pittsburgh
written by
Cally Jamis Vennare
Before asking people what makes them different, Pittsburgh-based artist Lenka Clayton asks a different question: What do they have in common?
That simple shift in perspective lies at the heart of Collective Biography, Pittsburgh 2026, an ongoing participatory art project Clayton first developed more than a decade ago and is expanding through a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University’s Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) Pittsburgh.
The premise is deceptively simple. Clayton gathers a group of people — typically 8 to 12 participants — and guides them through a conversation designed to uncover experiences, habits, memories and observations that every person in the room shares. Anything unique to one individual is set aside. The focus remains solely on common ground.
"Through conversation, the group searches for accidental correlations in their own personal histories, including coincidental moments," Clayton explained. Rather than emphasizing differences, Clayton searches for connections, whether profound or surprisingly mundane. Participants might discover they all rode bicycles as children, cried during a movie, have visible scars or find comfort in nature. The resulting discoveries are assembled into a single first-person biography that is equally true for every member of the group.
For Clayton, the project offers a powerful counterpoint to a culture that often celebrates individuality above all else.
"Our culture is highly individualistic," she said. "It's about how we are unique or separate or different to one another."
Collective Biography intentionally reverses that mindset, inviting participants to view their own life stories through a new lens. Instead of recounting familiar narratives about careers, relationships or personal achievements, they search for overlooked moments and unexpected overlaps with strangers, revealing the “true parts of personal biographies” and “shared moments in life.”
The experience often produces something deeper than a list of similarities. Participants discover that people whose lives appear vastly different may share dozens of experiences, emotions and perspectives. The process creates what Clayton describes as a “beautiful temporary community” — one built not on identity labels or affiliations, but on shared human experience.
Elizabeth Chodos, founder & director of ICA Pittsburgh and associate professor of curatorial studies at CMU, said Collective Biography aligns with her personal commitment to fostering connection through culture.
ICA’s partnership with Lenka reinforces a deep desire to bring people together in a time of increasing polarization while celebrating the power of community and collaboration.
Founder & Director, ICA Pittsburgh
The exhibition will premiere in fall 2026, in advance of ICA Pittsburgh’s 2028 move to the new Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences — a building that will include classrooms, labs and other facilities for the sciences and technology, in addition to being the home of the ICA’s new galleries.
Although Clayton has conducted Collective Biography projects at conferences, universities and museums, the Pittsburgh commission marks a new chapter. Rather than working with a single group, she will create six collective biographies drawn from a wide range of Pittsburgh communities that will be shown together. Potential participants may include students, Carnegie Library patrons, YMCA members, or other groups that reflect the diversity of everyday life in the city.
Each group will be filmed reading its collective biography aloud in unison. Participants speak in unison using the word "I," creating a striking portrait of individuality and commonality at the same time.
Ultimately, Clayton hopes the project extends beyond the gallery experience. The artwork serves as both a portrait of six groups of people living in Pittsburgh and an invitation to rethink how we engage with one another.
When you see a group looking straight into the camera using the word ‘I’ but saying the same thing … that in itself is a beautiful sort of dichotomy.
In a moment when division often dominates public discourse, that alternative may be the project's most meaningful contribution.