KC Adams
Maria Theresa Alves
Shuvinai Ashoona
Mary Anne Barkhouse
Michael Belmore
Rebecca Belmore
Postcommodity
Colleen Cutschall
Wally Dion
Jimmie Durham
Rosalie Favell
Jeffrey Gibson
Brett Graham
Faye HeavyShield
Marja Helander
Jonathan Jones
Brian Jungen
James Luna
Manomee Kavavow
Tracey Moffatt
Kent Monkman
Fiona Pardington
Reuben Paterson
Archer Pechawis
Edward Poitras
Pudlo Pudlat
Lisa Reihana
Paul Anders Simma
Doug Smarch Jr
Skawennati Tricia Fragnito
Christian Thompson
Marie Watt
Linus Woods
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Candice Hopkins
Steve Loft
Lee-Ann Martin
Jenny Western
By radically reconsidering encounter narratives between native and non-native people, Indigenous prophecies, possible utopias and apocalypses, this exhibition proposes intriguing possibilities for the next 500 years.
curated by Candice Hopkins, Steve Loft, Lee-Ann Martin and Jenny Western
Now is the moment to reconfigure our notions of time to reveal alternative ways of thinking and being for the future. In Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years Indigenous artists imagine the future within the context of present experiences and past histories. By radically reconsidering encounter narratives between native and non-native people, Indigenous prophecies, possible utopias and apocalypses, this exhibition proposes intriguing possibilities for the next 500 years. “We all in different measure have carved out the future,” observes Hopi photographer and filmmaker, Victor Masayesva, in his book Husk of Time. “We are all clairvoyants, soothsayers, prophets, knowingly assuming our predictions.”
Close Encounters brings together over 30 Indigenous artists from across Canada, the United States, South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, including newly commissioned work from Rebecca Belmore, Faye HeavyShield, Kent Monkman, and Edward Poitras. Jimmie Durham’s long-term sculptural work A Pole to Mark the Centre of the World at Winnipeg will be an ongoing critique of widely held ideas surrounding space and location, while James Luna’s poignant installation The Spirits of Virtue and Evil Await my Ascension, addresses issues of ritual and the passing of time. Close Encounters showcases artists and artworks that collectively invent provocative futures from a diversity of perspectives and practices.
With its myriad histories, trajectories, tensions, collisions, and self-image(s), the city of Winnipeg offers an intriguing juxtaposition for these artistic mediations. Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years presents international Indigenous perspectives in a city that in many ways also epitomizes the future of Aboriginal people in Canada. Works in multiple venues throughout the city will serve as catalysts to invent different ways of thinking, acting, and being in the world of our shared future. At this pivotal moment in time, Close Encounters invites engagement with the speculative, the prophetic, and the unknown.
Presented by the Winnipeg Cultural Capital of Canada 2010
Opening January 22, 2011, 7 pm
Artist talk January 23, 2011 - 12 pm to 5:30 pm
Plug In, Institute of Contemporary Art
1-460 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg MB, Canada
Hours: Wednesday to Saturday: 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Free admission