Artist-led curatorial collective Post-Posthuman is pleased to present its inaugural event, an exhibition of the work of nine artists accompanied by a series of public programs. Working collaboratively with nature in varying ways, the artists in this show exemplify the project’s mission of embodying and advancing an anti-apocalyptic vision: a vision of a future guided not by technology but by the immense intelligence of the natural world. Both the exhibition and the discussions will be held at an independent gallery space in Chelsea’s 526 W. 26^th Street building.

In deep dialogue with their materials, these nine artists share a willingness to cede control over their work, inviting chance events and material contingency. For some of them, this contingency manifests itself during the process of making; for others it is found in the outside world and artistically transformed through recording technologies. For all, there is an emphasis on sensory experience as a way of communicating – and communing – with the Earth as a knowing body. Additionally, by crafting objects whose meaning is received by the senses, these artists affirm the intelligence of the human body, offering experiential support for the various theories of embodiment now emerging.

With an unabashed embrace of enchantment and wonder, Post-Posthuman invites reflection on some of our deepest held assumptions. Is “brute” matter as inanimate as we’ve been taught to believe? Is reason necessarily the highest form of intelligence? How do our assumptions about nature shape our vision of the future? For the artists featured here, co-creating with material nature is a social, ethical, and political act – one that heralds the end of human exceptionalism and advances a new way of being with, in, and of the world.

Artists: Xavi Bou, Daniel Hill, Ed Kerns, William Lamson, Pete Mauney, Daria Panichas, Leah Raintree, Taney Roniger, Jim Toia.

Contact: Taney Roniger (taneyroniger@gmail.com), Jim Toia (jimtoia@gmail.com)

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