May 25 to Sep 2, 2024
To go boldly
About the Exhibition
Sonny Assu, Ana Diab, Rosalie Favell, Dara Gellman, Sky Hopinka, Stefana Fratila, Shelley Niro, Alex McLeod, Rajni Perera, Claire Scherzinger, Brendan Lee Satish Tang, and Syrus Marcus Ware.
To go boldly explores how contemporary artists look to science fiction to confront the past, make sense of the present, and imagine the future. Through this genre, complex social and cultural topics, such as racial justice, colonial violence, gender identity, and ableism, can be explored in profound and accessible ways. Worldbuilding is one of the science fiction methodologies adopted by artists to achieve this goal. Creating their own worlds filled with otherworldly beings and fantastical settings allows artists to escape established conventions and establish new narratives for themselves.
To go boldly also delves into the relationship between science fiction and popular culture. Using Star Trek as an example, it explores how fandom can become a conceptual framework through which artists explore their own identities, aspirations, and critiques. The exhibition features newly commissioned artworks alongside existing pieces. Some of these works engage directly with the Star Trek universe through its recognizable iconography and beloved storylines. Others express similar themes but are influenced by other sources.
Ultimately, the exhibition aims to illustrate that space is not the final frontier, but rather a rich and diverse arena where science fiction, contemporary art, and fandom can coalesce.
