Future Worldings
Curated by Lisa Baldissera, Usha Seejarim and Karen Tam
Open Studios and Performance at Griffin Art Projects: Sunday, September 15, 12:00PM–5:00PM
Opening Reception and Curator/Artist Tour: Friday, September 27, 6:00PM–8:00PM
EXHIBITION: September 28 to December 15, 2024
Curated by Lisa Baldissera, Usha Seejarim and Karen Tam, Future Worldings brings Canadian artists Nura Ali (based in Calgary, on the lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Tsuut’ina, Îyâxe Nakoda Nations and Métis Nation Region 3), Sun Forest and Xwalacktun (both residing on the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm [Musqueam], Skwxwú7mesh [Squamish] and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh [Tsleil-Waututh] Nations) together with Johannesburg-based South African artists Pebofatso Mokoena, Lebogang Mogul Mabusela and Wezile Harmans to consider approaches of collective and collaborative “worldmaking.” The project concerns itself with how it may be possible to “world” collectively while retaining the specificities of site, body, history, access and cultural understandings.
In 2021, Griffin Art Projects introduced the six artists in Future Worldings to one another in a two-month digital residency during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Formal and informal online meetings initiated a discursive space in which to share practices with one another from their relative positions across the world as they developed their work. In 2024, on the occasion of the Future Worldings project, the artists and curators gathered in person for the first time, engaging in international cultural exchanges through three diverse residency programs in Canada and South Africa at NIROX (Krugersdorp, South Africa), Similkameen Artist Residency (SAR) (Keremeos, BC) and Griffin Art Projects.
Download the Future Worldings Conference Booklet Here