Modular Art Pods

This summer’s Modular Art Pods show at OZ Arts Nashville was one of the most creative exhibits I’ve seen in some time. Dozens of art pods — 4-foot-by-4-foot or 4-foot-by-8-foot spaces decorated by different artists — were clustered together into mini mazes. Viewers could walk (and in some cases crawl) through the tunnels to explore each tiny little world. One pod was covered in thousands of Peeps; another was converted into a small forest of birch trees. A very memorable submission even had an, um, genitalic exit. Yup, if you wanted to escape the box, you had to crawl through a big cloth vagina. This MAP show, the first iteration not organized by creator Tony Youngblood, is curated by photographer Tyler Blankenship and musician Tyler Walker — maybe that title should be Mod-tyler Art Pods? Not only does the concept encourage artists to utilize different aspects of a non-traditional space, but it also invites viewers to interact with the art in an unusual way (though it can be hard on the knees — thankfully, many of the pods still look cool on the outside for those not wanting to crawl on the ground). MEGAN SELING