Geometries of Freedom,

by Niara van Gaalen

My project asks how we can learn from the beauty-inclusive ornamental traditions of communities resisting colonization.  I believe that the decorative and beautifying elements of material culture are actually essential to building an identity of resistance. Yeminis, South Africans, Wet'suwet'en tiny house builders, Zapatistas, and many other front-line communities use art on their buildings, clothing, and everyday objects as a form of self expression. The agency to determine your own appearance, and that of the objects and spaces around you, is critical to building and maintaining a cultural identity beyond capitalism. I look back to the art and architecture in Suriname, where my mother is from, which has a tradition of resistance and geometry, especially in Maroon communities. Dismissing ornament and geometry as unimportant is exactly what allowed these covert guides to freedom to evade the colonizers. My piece consists of a large drawing that captures my ideas around the sources and derivations of geometry from plants and celestial forms, and an oral narrative that accompanies this drawing. This piece is intended to be an entry point into ideas of geometry, agency, beauty and post-capitalism, which I hope to explore further.  

Common Life: Play as Liberation,

by Nikē/Vic Baneberry

This artifact is an art project inspired by the creation of Crows' Commons - bridging the governance documents, bylaws, and other legal rigmarole into an interactive tabletop roleplaying experience. This work is ultimately a game about building community belonging together, presented as a large worm’s eye drawing of a communal multi-use space. It asks us to engage in the creation of a collective home where we live with rhythm, in deep relationship with others, and have agency over the creation of our food, art, and housing. I weave in real life examples of communities practicing radical care (community fridges, mobile food hubs, cripclubs, mutual aid networks, etc) and introduce radical game mechanics that inspire players to imagine new solidarity economies.

This project brings together play, joy, and surprise and invites people to interact and immerse themselves with this project, getting lost in the wonder and possibilities of living in a collectively governed space.

How to Tie and Untie a Knot,

by Mona Dai

"How to Tie and Untie a Knot" will be an ornamental installation of knotted re-used fabric and rope. The installation will be composed of collectively made decorative knots, inspired by “Chinese knotting”.  Through an on-site workshop, participants will learn techniques of making the knots from waste materials, while engaging in discussions on the themes of material re-use, waste colonialism, the lines between craft and kitsch, and the labour involved to re-purpose textiles and other used things.  Participants and visitors will add their knots to the installation during this workshop and the duration of the exhibition.  At the end of the exhibition, the knots will be untied and returned to their former roped forms, for use in future textile projects.  

Re-imagining with Satoyama and Satoumi,

by Nancy Ji, Sarah Mahoney, Julia Nakanishi

This is a series of fieldwork photographs and sketches by three researchers, Nancy Ji, Sarah Mahoney, and Julia Nakanishi, presenting an overlap in questions about the ways in which villages in depopulating rural Japan are restoring and evolving relationships between humans and landscape through satoyama and satoumi practices.