PLAY WITH IT
DON’T PLAY WITH ME

marcus scott williams
May 17 - June 15, 2025
Opening reception Saturday, May 17th | 6-9 PM

Reading marcus' writing feels like talking to marcus in person. His words are natural and colloquial, flowing freely into your mind as they would into your ear. At times his poetry expands beyond the page: it has taken the form of video collage, shared storytelling, livestreaming, and music. In his second solo show with haul, PLAY WITH IT DONT PLAY WITH ME, he continues this experimental approach with an interactive environment that changes the show for every visitor.

Here, marcus uses audio sampling as the medium to bridge his varied practices. With the interactive piece everybody is a drum, visitors are welcomed by a constant 4/4 kick-drum and invited to finger-drum on an Akai MIDI controller. Each pad triggers a chopped sample and projected text, thereby creating their own beat and poem simultaneously. On an adjacent wall, marcus’ community-guided ‘life story’ is displayed on a screen. Viewers can access a Google Doc and add their own words to marcus’ life story – a project that began at his last show at haul, On Me: A Themoir in 2021. This piece is revived in 2025, continuing the storytelling of marcus’ life.

Similarly, marcus considers the sculptures in this show as freestyles within themselves, and are sample-based in a material-sense. He digs through life’s ephemera like he’s in a record store, molding tobacco blunt guts with plastic, hair, and other on-hand materials. In PLAY WITH IT DONT PLAY WITH ME, blunt gut bookends frame marcus’ personal collection, encouraging visitors to pick a book and stay a while – maybe create their own poetry.

marcus scott williams experiments with forms of writing and music. his works include the Sparse Black Whimsy series, damn near might still be is what it is, and on me: a themoir, previously presented at haul gallery. he got fellowships and residencies from Vermont Studio Center, Ragdale, Saltonstall, and the Bronx Council on the Arts, and he is a current MFA candidate at Bard College. he loves and appreciates you.