Single-channel 7: Journeys Into Peripheral Worlds

Based on observations of the discipline, the curatorial department each year develops a theme to contextualize recent video works. Our 2017 series, Journeys into Peripheral Worlds, features four artists—Ethan Murrow, Michael Najjar, Wangechi Mutu, and Alex Prager—all of whom depict very different kinds of fantastic worlds. Three of the videos feature a protagonist and the fourth, a group of people, all of whom are journeying through dystopic, uncanny or futuristic worlds. Although seemingly unfathomable, certain qualities of these worlds directly resonate, for better or worse, with our current reality. The quests embarked upon by these characters remain unresolved—there are no clear conclusions or evidence of salvation. Instead, the open-ended journeys seem to suggest that the future is in our hands to make of it what we will.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website