'I think future, I think past' exhibition opening and curator talk

I think future, I think past

La Trobe Art Institute
Wed 28 Aug to Sun 11 Nov 2024

Exhibition opening and curator talk
Fri 30 August, 5 to 7:30 pm

Artists: Sophia Al-Maria (QT/US), Peggy Ahwesh (US), Daniel Boyd (AU), Jessie French (AU), and Jemima Wyman (AU/US)

Curator: Amelia Wallin

How are we to imagine the future at a time that feels like the end?In this exhibition, colonial and capitalist ruins become both condition and material for revisionist histories and imagined alternative futures.

I think future, I think past includes the Australian premiere of international artists Peggy Ahwesh and Sophia Al-Maria, alongside leading Australian artists Daniel Boyd, Jemima Wyman and Jessie French.

Across sculpture and moving image, the artworks use a wide variety of materials that range from emerging to near obsolete technologies, such as new algae polymers, computer generated imagery, CRT televisions, high-definition video, and found digital source material. Together, they offer different lenses for imaging past and future conflicts, reflecting our planetary degradation and assembling optimistic plans for earthly survival.

The exhibition takes its title from a comment by artist Peggy Ahwesh, in conversation with Andrea Lissoni, reflecting on the cyclical nature of her films in 2021 for Mouse Magazine. Thinking through the past and the future simultaneously is a central concern of the exhibition. Imaging the effects of present day colonial and petro-capitalist economies, the artworks in the exhibition reckon with our culpability in the near future.