SYMPOSIUM: FUTURE FORMS AND ALTERNATIVE METHODS
NOVEMBER 5-6, 2021
While hope has motivated political action, its significance for social transformation is hotly debated. Sometimes associated with naiveté or unrealizable utopian aspirations, hope can also serve as a critical lens for understanding collective values and imagining eclectic futures. Is hope, as Rebecca Solnit writes, grounded in the wild possibilities of untold futures? Or does it reflect a deep commitment to community as posited by Andre Willis? Perhaps, drawing on photographer Zanele Muholi’s idea of “visual activism,” hope emerges from works that spark concrete political interventions.
Held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the After Hope symposium explored diverse expressions and legacies of hope within contemporary art using the work of artists from across Asia and its diaspora as guides and catalysts for further inquiry. Bringing together artists, scholars, curators, and activists, the program offered an interdisciplinary examination of hope’s potential for form, method, and action.
