As we increasingly grow frustrated with the dizzying pace of progress. As we wrestle with technological advancements that leave us bewildered. As we leave behind significant swathes of our human brethren, left to wallow in poverty, discrimination, and hardship. Yet another existential threat might possibly upend life as we know it: another form of life.⁠⁠

Far-fetched? Impossible? Too speculative? But, ah. Speculation is what artists are good at. They can excel in it. Revel in it, even. ⁠⁠

They relish it. They reflect on it. And they do a staggering job of regurgitating all the ideas percolating in their amazingly complicated minds.⁠

⁠We would expect reactions, of course, to be varied. And visceral. It can run the gamut from disbelief, to awe and veneration, to delight. It can be one of denial. Or something profound. ⁠

And so with these artists. From deep reflection to shallow absorption – these artists imbue, translate and represent the multitude of reactions a contact scenario can trigger. And regardless of the potentially endless variety – there is one thing they do have in common: an ability to channel otherworldliness. ⁠

A concept of time and space that isn’t in this continuum, but in some other dimension. Welcome to the imagination, unleashed.⁠

Hello. 

I’m happy to welcome you to our great planet. Here reside civilizations both ancient and new. Technological advances both wondrous and utilitarian (but obviously not as advanced as space travel). Forms of life both minute and massive, with thousands upon thousands of species teeming in co-existence.

Well, there are a few hiccups here and there. I am from the species called man. Later critiqued to address the absence of woman. And further complicated to incorporate a seemingly endless variety of sexual preferences and identification.

Man has come to rule Earth. And over the past century, to ravage it, to humiliate it, and certainly to destroy it – in many, diabolical ways. Who knows – there may no longer be an Earth in a couple of centuries.  So glad to see your galactic spacecraft, by the way. It reminds one of an escape pod.

Sadly, humanity is led by liars. Eloquent leaders who deny that there is climate change. Leaders who lie through their teeth about the good they will bring to the rest of the led. Leaders who promise divine salvation, and life ever after, all the while persecuting and torturing non-believers. Leaders who proclaim they are all about compassion, and then they proceed to exterminate rivers, forests, species – even other peoples. Name it, we’ve killed it. 

We are ravaged by a few wars at the moment. Pockets of rage. Hotspots of hostility. Whether of religious belief, ethnicity, political views, or territorial expansionism – there are quite a few reasons why we slash and burn, and kill our own. 

Wait. Are you heading back to your ship so soon? You must come back. We insist.  We should be around in a few more decades. Come before then, yeah?

Curatorial Notes by JT Gonzales⁠