10/20/2021
Utopaphobia - Opening Reception this Thursday October 21, 2021 6 - 9pm at The Green Exchange.
Brief Synopsis: Utopia is often defined as an imagined place where social conditions are perfect and all things are equal. By virtue of that impossibility the word is also synonymous with impractically, naive optimism, and insidious authoritarianism. It exists in our lexicon as an inherent contradiction. Something to which many feel an aversion to and in many ways embodies the predicaments we face in continuing to shape society.
As creatures living on this planet we are, to the best of our knowledge, the most capable of manipulating the world around us. The structures we build, the materials we process and synthesize, the social systems we navigate in our daily lives, and the art we make are all characteristics that distinguish us from other life on earth. Our own history frames us as exceptional. Superior. The creation of a higher power. The image of god.
As exceptional creatures we now find ourselves in a conundrum. Our curiosity,
knowledge, and self-awareness has enabled us to envision a perfect world while cynically embracing the fact that it is unattainable. For many of us in modern industrial civilization we have resigned ourselves to a neoliberal position from which the virtuous gesture is rewarded with more social and monetary capital than the revolutionary action. This exhibition may very well be an example of that very problem.
Exhibiting Artists:
Gabriella Boros
Jan Brugger
Evan Carter
Erin Charpentier
Kim Curtis
Megan Diddie
Susanne Layla Petersen
Travis Neel
Roberto Santaguida
Adam Sébire
Kelsey Merreck Wagner
Deep Time Chicago:
Kayla Anderson
Sara Black
Amber Ginsburg
Sarah Lewison
Claire Pentecost
The Green Exchange
2545 W Diversey Ave, Chicago, IL 60647
Opening Reception Thursday October 21, 2021 6 - 9pm