For some twenty years, Laurie Simmons has, with rare exception, photographed dolls, dummies, puppets, toys—inanimate objects—in such a way that they somehow gave off signs of artificial life. This first survey of Simmons’ work includes the dollhouse, ballerina, and “tourism” series that helped define the postmodern discourse of the early ’80s, as well as her most recent images and an installation of ventriloquist dummies created especially for the show. A catalogue of Simmons’ work, which is saturated with a sense of make-believe and the television memories of the baby-boom generation, is written by curator Jan Howard. May 28-Aug. 17

— Mary Anne Staniszewski