Portals: Bending Spacetime
Friday 21 Jun 2024—Sunday 21 Jul 2024
SARAH EJLONYE | YOCHEVED & SHALOME FRANCIS | RHYAN JORDAN
FATABA KAKULATOMBO | AKINSOLA LAWANSON | KUMBIRAI MAKUMBE
LIZ MPUTU | SHANE SUTHERLAND | FRANK XARATE
PRIVATE VIEW: THURSDAY 20 JUNE 6-9PM
GALLERY OPENING HOURS
MONDAY & TUESDAY: VISITORS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. TO REQUEST AN APPOINTMENT PLEASE EMAIL SHANE@198.ORG.UK
WEDS – FRI: 11AM – 5PM | SATURDAY & SUNDAY: 12PM – 5PM
198 Contemporary is thrilled to announce the upcoming exhibition Portals: Bending Spacetime
“The imagination is among the weapons on offer in societies of control.” – Kara Keeling (Queer Times, Black Futures)
A multidisciplinary group show featuring a collection of artists creating across video, sculpture, painting, 3D and new media. An exploration of Black imagination and possibility “Portals: Bending Spacetime” invites visitors on a transformative experience as they journey through Afro-futurist aesthetics and adjacent themes, highlighting the unique narratives imbued in work created from Black and African Diasporic experiences.
At the root of the exhibition lies the exploration and cultivation of ‘Afro-Transportal’ spaces—conceptual safe havens and portals into the narratives and dreamscapes of the featured artists. Through immersive installations, interactive artworks, and dynamic storytelling, visitors will embark on a manifold structured journey, where the boundaries of time, space, and identity blur and reshape. The term “Afro-Transportal” encapsulates the essence of this exhibition—a celebration of portals of possibility and windows into alternate dimensions.
Inspired by the practice & concepts of “Black Quantum Futurism” and Kara Keelings texts on imagination, technology, futurity, and liberation in “Queer Times, Black Futures”.
Portals: Bending Spacetime celebrates the power of imagination and creativity as tools for envisioning liberated futures beyond existing structures.
Featuring works by:
- Sarah Ejionye
- Yocheved & Shalome Francis
- Rhyan Jordan
- Fataba Kakulatombo
- Akinsola Lawanson
- Kumbirai Makumbe
- Liz Mputu
- Shane Sutherland
- Frank Xarate
This exhibition is curated by Shane Sutherland
198’s Artistic Programme is supported by Arts Council England & Freelands Foundation.