If Birds Could Fly: On Speculative Futurisms
04/11/24 - 04/24/24
Group Exhibition, Co-curated with Liam Davis
Jung Won Lee, Mina Safaraz, Ameyaa Mallik, Elina Press, Caelan McCollum, Sarah Leiva, Jingwen Zhang, Rachel Rusk, Maia Malakoff, Michelle Shengyu Li, Catherine Khamnouane, Riley Cox, Gaeun Kim, Oreoluwa Akinyode, Sara Hinterlong, Marty Koelsch, Bobbie Waugaman, Nadia Nazar, Aida Lodge, Mantis Harper-Blanco, Kimari Hazward
MICA Middendorf Gallery, Baltimore, USA
Exhibition Catalogue
“Birds do not sing because they have answers; birds sing because they have songs.”
Perhaps we have always known the sounds of dreaming. Upon each time the Sun rises, we recognize the bird’s song like a primordial call. Yet amidst the noisiness of industrial life, listening to these songs has become a radical practice of joy. As humans have aspired to reach great heights akin to the wonders of the bird, it becomes a reminder of our own strength and futility.
During our short time on Earth, we’ve tied ‘progress’ with anthropocentric human advantage, traveling faster and further, but recklessly. As we hold the active opportunity and responsibility of generations from the past and future, how can we reassess our ethics and reject rigid boundaries between ‘human,’ ‘nature’ and ‘machine?’ What if we considered non-linear futures through cyclical or cosmological time? Whether it be in regards to sociopolitical structures such as race and gender or human and non-human entities, how can we break down concepts of ‘the other’ to build more symbiotic versions of progress?
In response to futurisms that impose an absolute truth, in response to systems of fear and doubt, If Birds Could Fly envisions futurisms of the expansive, observant, and liberatory. Through critical dialogue between thoughtful speculations of the future— its tools, communities, values, language, and intersections with the past and present— we hope to recognize the power of collective dreaming.
Perhaps we have always known the sounds of dreaming. Upon each time the Sun rises, we recognize the bird’s song like a primordial call. Yet amidst the noisiness of industrial life, listening to these songs has become a radical practice of joy. As humans have aspired to reach great heights akin to the wonders of the bird, it becomes a reminder of our own strength and futility.
During our short time on Earth, we’ve tied ‘progress’ with anthropocentric human advantage, traveling faster and further, but recklessly. As we hold the active opportunity and responsibility of generations from the past and future, how can we reassess our ethics and reject rigid boundaries between ‘human,’ ‘nature’ and ‘machine?’ What if we considered non-linear futures through cyclical or cosmological time? Whether it be in regards to sociopolitical structures such as race and gender or human and non-human entities, how can we break down concepts of ‘the other’ to build more symbiotic versions of progress?
In response to futurisms that impose an absolute truth, in response to systems of fear and doubt, If Birds Could Fly envisions futurisms of the expansive, observant, and liberatory. Through critical dialogue between thoughtful speculations of the future— its tools, communities, values, language, and intersections with the past and present— we hope to recognize the power of collective dreaming.
Selected Works
Still Fire
Instrument
Long Time (Ginkgo)
Flight Speculation I — Exhaustion
Flight Speculation II — Anchoring
Between Blood, Breath and Sea
(血脉，不息，守望)
Meditations I — my god is dark
“god’s eye” / “god in a seed” I
“god’s eye” / “god in a seed” II
Untitled (Portrait)
To Bury a Bird
1+1+1+1+1
In Response to Explanation
noon
First Touch
How To Make A Wish
Visualization of a Wish
still life
Selected Exhibitions
Where the Light Blows (Solo Exhibition, 2024)
If Birds Could Fly: On Speculative Futurisms (Curation, 2024
michellesylistudio@gmail.com