Transformer is thrilled to announce Mapping the Future World – a Sister Cities project supported by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities. Connecting Korean and DC artists through a series of online conversations & digital communications, Mapping the Future World is building dialogue, connectedness, inspiration, insight and artwork to make sense of, and move forward in, this uncertain and unprecedented time.
Considering the ways COVID-19 has been radically changing our world, both literally and figuratively, Transformer invited 8 artists to partake in a series of online conversations and group calls mid May – early August 2020, to imagine ways of approaching an equal and equitable future. Seoul-based artists Seo Young Chang, Seulki Ki, and Hannah Woo, and DC- based artists Maps Glover, Esther Eunjin Lee, Nara Park, Valerie Wiseman, and Naoko Wowsugi engaged each other in creative dialogue facilitated by Transformer staff as they thought through and created artworks that reimagine and reinvent social arrangements, constructs, and structures.
Supported by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Sister Cities grant program, Transformer had initially planned to pursue cultural exchange by traveling with a group of DC-based artists to Seoul, South Korea in May 2020. Through this exchange, Transformer sought to expand our international networks, and achieve creative and professional growth experiences for the DC based artists, connecting them with their Korean-based peer artists, art spaces, galleries, museums and more. Although Transformer was unable to physically travel to Korea, cross-cultural exchange and dialogue has been facilitated through bi-weekly Zoom meetings with all of the participating artists.
The resulting Mapping the Future World online exhibition featured here from August 17 – September 12, 2020 shares the work the artists have created, along with public programs for audiences to meet the artists and learn more about their work.
This online exhibition was designed and created by Katie Lee - Transformer’s Exhibitions + Programs Coordinator.