Imagine Together: Hopeful Visions For Our Future
A VIRTUAL EXHIBITION • APRIL 2021
This juried group exhibition is inspired by the work of author adrienne maree brown.
“Art is not neutral. It either upholds or disrupts the status quo, advancing or regressing justice. We are living now inside the imagination of people who thought economic disparity and environmental destruction were acceptable costs for their power. It is our right and responsibility to write ourselves into the future. All organizing is science fiction. If you are shaping the future, you are a futurist. And visionary fiction is a way to practice the future in our minds, alone and together.“
We’d like to thank local artist and educator, Claire Fong for proposing this call for art.
Listen to Jason Cassidy’s KZFR interview with Claire in minute 22:08.
To purchase artwork please contact exhibitions@1078gallery.org.
“Art is not neutral. It either upholds or disrupts the status quo, advancing or regressing justice. We are living now inside the imagination of people who thought economic disparity and environmental destruction were acceptable costs for their power. It is our right and responsibility to write ourselves into the future. All organizing is science fiction. If you are shaping the future, you are a futurist. And visionary fiction is a way to practice the future in our minds, alone and together.“
We’d like to thank local artist and educator, Claire Fong for proposing this call for art.
Listen to Jason Cassidy’s KZFR interview with Claire in minute 22:08.
To purchase artwork please contact exhibitions@1078gallery.org.
Images and poems
Videos
|
Claire Fong, Erin Lizardo, Scott Barwick, Erik Elliott
TOTH, also known as Tip of the Hat, 2021 Embodiment of the TOTH Spirit/Dancers/Costume Designers: Claire Fong & Erin Lizardo Video Editing Priestess: Erin Lizardo Music: Scott Barwick & Erik Elliott Videographer & Sound Engineer: Scott Barwick Text/Receiver of the Word of TOTH: Erik Elliott & Claire Fong |
From an outside observer's perspective, Tip Of The Hat is an improvisational dance game, but it is also connection, community, meditation in motion, engagement in the present moment & positivity.
TOTH for fun
TOTH for fitness
TOTH for LIFE TM
Text from video:
TOTH
Also known as Tip of the hat
is a game played amongst friends for the purpose of general merrymaking
through the act of ecstatic free form mimic dancing
arranged in a large inward facing amoebic circle.
One dancer summons the moves from within their being,
all others then must absorb its essence and
reinterpret it in unison to the rhythm of the universe.
Only the administrator of the dance will know
the Divine moment their upload is concluded.
Upon the conclusion an unseen metaphysical hat is tipped
toward the next most worthy administrator of the ceremony.
This ceremony may take place in any venue,
inside or out
with as few participants as two
or as many as infinitely possible.
It may take place over the course of a few minutes
or require a whole evening to complete
only it’s participants know the moment of its conclusion.
When engaging in a toth circle, you are dancing the dance of life.
When submerging into the flow of toth,
You are awakened to the cosmic oneness of existence.
TOTH for fun
TOTH for fitness
TOTH for LIFE TM
Text from video:
TOTH
Also known as Tip of the hat
is a game played amongst friends for the purpose of general merrymaking
through the act of ecstatic free form mimic dancing
arranged in a large inward facing amoebic circle.
One dancer summons the moves from within their being,
all others then must absorb its essence and
reinterpret it in unison to the rhythm of the universe.
Only the administrator of the dance will know
the Divine moment their upload is concluded.
Upon the conclusion an unseen metaphysical hat is tipped
toward the next most worthy administrator of the ceremony.
This ceremony may take place in any venue,
inside or out
with as few participants as two
or as many as infinitely possible.
It may take place over the course of a few minutes
or require a whole evening to complete
only it’s participants know the moment of its conclusion.
When engaging in a toth circle, you are dancing the dance of life.
When submerging into the flow of toth,
You are awakened to the cosmic oneness of existence.
|
Moni Cash
Imagine My piece was obviously inspired by John Lennon's song, "Imagine," from his 1971 album of the same name: Imagine. My understanding is that "Imagine" was inspired by Yoko Ono's poems and writings which were published in her 1964 book, Grapefruit. |
The line, "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" inspires optimism in my heart for the future. I often find myself feeling depressed and hopeless for the future of humanity, in light of the destruction, hate, cowardice, violence, ignorance, oppression, injustice, etc etc etc., portrayed and reflected in the media and in our daily lives. Sometimes it feels like we are on a snowball that is only gaining momentum and size as we travel down a steep slope.
But I am also reminded of something I once heard Maya Angelou say in a recording I watched. She said that the greatest form of political rebellion is to be optimistic and to keep hope alive. I thought that was so beautiful and moving. And I thought wow, I am a privileged white female, and if a Black American woman who experienced the hardship of systemic racism and oppression is telling me to stay optimistic, then I absolutely have no excuse but to remain optimistic and keep fighting the good fight, to keep the dream alive and keep imagining a better future where Love, Generosity, Kindness, Equality, and Justice are things that are common and widespread.
I feel like a dreamer sometimes, and I know some will say it's a fool's journey to be so hopeful, but I want to consciously choose to be a fool in love rather than a fool in hatred.
But I am also reminded of something I once heard Maya Angelou say in a recording I watched. She said that the greatest form of political rebellion is to be optimistic and to keep hope alive. I thought that was so beautiful and moving. And I thought wow, I am a privileged white female, and if a Black American woman who experienced the hardship of systemic racism and oppression is telling me to stay optimistic, then I absolutely have no excuse but to remain optimistic and keep fighting the good fight, to keep the dream alive and keep imagining a better future where Love, Generosity, Kindness, Equality, and Justice are things that are common and widespread.
I feel like a dreamer sometimes, and I know some will say it's a fool's journey to be so hopeful, but I want to consciously choose to be a fool in love rather than a fool in hatred.
|
Julie Lee
Untitled (her bundles) In this video, I am performing the tradition of bojagi by wrapping my mother’s dreams and perceptions of America with her scarves. As these fragments are stored away, her desires become material, alive. This is about her immigration experience for a chance at true happiness. |
|
Asia Anderson
Forest Dream, Arcata Community Forest, 2021 Writer, Director, Producer, Forest Nymph, Nerd: Asia Anderson Sound and Video: The Dream Team Productions Costume: body peice- Ateliê Néia Bombom, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil headpiece, back wings, and shoes - Cory Thomas Designs, Tucson, Arizona, USA Music: Jason Derulo- Take You Dancing |
I think all of us can agree that the past year has been very different and challenging in ways we did not foresee. We were asked to remain calm when it seemed like the modern world was falling to pieces. Here’s what I’ve realized; there’s only one constant in life. That thing is change. We are moving so fast through the universe at speeds upward of 60,000 miles a minute. With every nano second, our home is in a different part of the universe and this is what we've always known. We are the ultimate travelers. My artistic intentions when I created Forest Dream was to remind us all that we can travel and be anywhere, doing anything, just with our minds. This is essentially what we are doing in reality. Time really does not exist as time is quite simply our coordinate in space. I imagine that while we are doing what we need to do to stay housed, fed, warm, and healthy, we can remember to take escape with our minds to do some mind travelling. Whether it be a vacation to a place in your teenage years when you were listening to Kid n Play as a passenger in an oval window VW bug on a cruise or dancing in the enchanted redwood forest in a samba costume. We can choose to take reprieve and escape the daily without guilt. This is how we recharge our battery. The next step we take then after this mastery is recognizing most confines are of the mind and liberation is gratefully attainable.
|
Can Bilir
The ghosts of the world behind, 2021 A multimedia poem that depicts life in the post-lockdown world. The anthropocentric negative affect causes the devolution of human individuals to fungi spores. The new self in an imaginary planet, the sensation of the light, alien soundscape, and quasi-birdsong vocal interruptions generate a new sensory experience of becoming other than human. |
The fragile presence of life that we have inherited lacks a simple, universal solution towards a sustainable future. In John Cage’s words, the past human lives were “outnumbered” by those who were living (Cage, 1992). After the great acceleration of the 1950s, not only has the human population increased, but the environmental and ecological risks on Earth have multiplied towards rhizomatic forces.