View 3D VR Gallery: phenomenologyofhope.com

Featured Artists: Adrienne DeVine, Akira Shikiya, Ann Phong, Asano Tsutsumi, Blue McRight, Carlos Gonzalez, Christopher Kojzar, Colin Roberts, Diane Williams, Elí Joteva, Emma Akmakdjian, Georganne Deen, Hung V. Nguyen, Isabel Beavers, Isabelle Higgins, Jackie Turpin, Janna Avner, Jonah Jackson, Jonathan Moore, June Edmonds, Kaitlin Bryson, Kate Parsons, KCJ Szwedzinski, Khang Nguyen, Kio Griffith, Kristin McWharter, Linnea Spransy, Maru García, Megan Koth, Namiko, Naohiko Onodera, Neil Mendoza, Nihura, Richelle Gribble, Robert Gutierrez, Sean Noyce, Stalgia Grigg, Thomas Stoeckinger, Virginia Katz, Yogan Muller, Yukiko Sugiyama, and Zeynep Abes.

Khang Nguyen, Super Mirror

Hope is an evasive phenomenon. For some it is a most harmful impairment, for others, it is one of the highest human virtues. It is difficult to precisely define but seems to leave its imprints on every aspect of human life and practice. Some embrace the expression of hope as an innate human virtue that refuses to condone the suffering in this world, while others perceive it as an escapists’ inability to confront the realities of the world.

Kristin McWharter, Breath Bank, Single Channel Video, 2018

This exhibition examines the subject of hope by addressing some open-ended questions:

What is the conscious experience of the phenomenon called hope? How is hope to be distinguished from belief and faith, promise and expectation, confidence and certainty, idealism and optimism? Does the absence of hope give rise to its opposite, the presence of anxiety, fear or despair? Is there a state of mind that is not confined to the polarity of hope and despair, hence surpasses them? How does the human experience of hope relate to other-than-human intelligence systems? What is hope’s relation to the present and future, activity and passivity, individuality and community? Does it impede one from undertaking the duties and challenges of the life-at-hand by its orientation towards a life-to-come? Is it a form of escapism to be eschewed or a power of transformation to be espoused?

VR 3D Gallery Director: Eli Joteva
Installation Assistant: Cate Brooks
Architecture Design: Julia Farley
Graphic Design: Kio Griffith, Marianna Lambros
3D Texturing: Emily Mah, Samantha Seitz, Marianna Lambros
2D Gallery, website, & show concept: Khang Nguyen

Curatorial writings: Elí Joteva, Khang B. Nguyen, Kio Griffith