Often, we misconceive our opinions and views as facts—overlooking that the ways we look at the world are already shaped by an underlying storyline. But these stories can be told in different ways: it is a question of perspective, a question of where we stand when we look at the world. From where artists stand, they oftentimes see things that we do not. Looking through the artist’s lens can affect and even change our ways of sensing the world. They help us narrate it differently and access other perspectives.
Within this year’s theme exhibition, we invite visitors to try on the artists’ lenses in four designated spaces with artists Tega Brain, Anab Jain of Superflux, LaJuné McMillian, and the Time’s Up collective. Opening with a specific question, Artist Spotlights take us to the crossroads of ways of thinking, of ways of working and being together. Intended as cultural quests of imaginative propositions, they move us beyond rational analytics and technological remedies and boost our affective understanding of culture, society and nature as necessarily interdependent. We tread these tentative and explorative pathways, and the hope is that we can not only understand, but feel and treat the world around us better.
We are also invited to rethink artistic research. The great power of exploring the facts and realities not only through standardized and refined scientific methods, but through the medium of artistic expression allows us to explore the world differently. Artists allow us to re-conceptualize knowledge in ways that allow us to understand the planetary and societal issues we are facing through affective regimes.
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Spotlight on Anab Jain
Often, we misconceive our opinions and views as facts—overlooking that the ways we look at the world are already shaped by an underlying storyline. But these stories can be told in different ways: it is a question of perspective, a question of where we stand when we look at the world.
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Spotlight on LaJuné McMillian
Initially pursuing a path in mechanical engineering, LaJuné McMillian eventually shifted her focus and immersed herself in technology. This transition sparked a deep interest in discussing the broader contexts and implications that digital technologies carry.
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Spotlight on Tega Brain
“We’ve seen enough climate art about grief and loss and mourning. I make art to point to the agency we have in the climate crisis. We need art that experiments with system redesign, degrowth aesthetics and cultivates imaginaries for climate mitigation and adaptation. I also want to see climate art about reaching those most responsible…
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Spotlight on Time’s Up
Is hope a privilege? Or is hope a muscle, a practice, a ritual or a discipline? An axe, a tactic or a strategy? A distraction, a tangent, an excuse? We take an old saying and modify it to remind ourselves that: We hear futures and we forget. We see futures and we remember. We do…