Curated by Katia ZavistovskiWork by Chris Akin, Seth Alverson, Uta Barth, Jeremy DePrez, Clayton Porter and Jenny Schlief  Nobody strives to be boring or likes to be bored, and there is probably no worse criticism of an artwork or exhibition than to say that it's "boring." And yet, boredom is a powerful state of mind. It is an everyday part of human existence, but one that most people deny and work hard to avoid. A close relative of repose, it is the experience of not having anything to do, and yet its prerequisite is the overwhelming desire to do something, anything, to fill that empty time. Commonly associated with frustration, futility, or failure, boredom can also be a stimulus for contemplation, imagination, work, and play - triggering inspiration or motivation, it often plays a significant role in the process of art-making and viewing.  Staring at the Wall: The Art of Boredom examines what goes on when supposedly nothing is going on. The artists in the exhibition - Chris Akin, Seth Alverson, Uta Barth, Jeremy DePrez, Clayton Porter, and Jenny Schlief - work in a variety of media and address boredom in a number of ways. Some of the artists consider themes of repetition and feelings of restlessness, while others explore what lies beneath and beyond the idle moments in our everyday lives.  Katia Zavistovski was born in New York, and lives and works in Houston, TX. She is currently a PhD student in art history at Rice University, and the William A. Camfield Curatorial Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She worked as the Rice Curatorial Fellow at the Menil Collection from 2011-2012, and recently co-curated the exhibition "Raid the Archive: The Menil Years at Rice" (2012). Prior to moving to more tropical climates, she attended the Williams College graduate program in art history, where she received her MA with a focus on modern and contemporary art. During her time at Williams, Zavistovski was the Clark Curatorial Fellow at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), where she organized the exhibition "InVisible: Art at the Edge of Perception" (2010).