Studio AHEAD presents The Houses Are Haunted by White Night-Gowns, a show at The Future Perfect. Inspired by the pre-Internet days of antique-hunting, free exploration in secondhand shops, and the thrill of the find, this new exhibition rejects the era of hyper-curation. How can we bypass the influencer, the algorithm, the pre-selected and already-discovered, while still engaging in community? Studio AHEAD invited artists represented by The Future Perfect to produce bowls, giving artists freedom to choose material and approach, so long as each was large enough to hold fruit or serve pasta from family-style, or collect grandma’s assorted candies. Et Al Gallery in San Francisco was asked to contribute used books of their own pick in art theory and design. Mid Century Møbler supplied mid-century furniture from the 1940s to 1970s, and C. Mariani Antiques from the 17th to 19th centuries, arranged in stacked displays around the gallery space.
The resulting topology is reminiscent of an antique shop’s piles of accumulated stuff, but also the mountains and valleys that children, forced to go antiquing with their parents, make of them in their imagination. Bowls and books are items of wonder to be found throughout. Armoires and credenzas become places to hide or pedestals to be seen. Neither fully embracing nostalgia, nor wishing to erase these objects’ history, the exhibition instead encourages viewers to indulge their own associations. Some pieces stir personal reflection; all are embedded within a larger web of relation waiting to be discovered.
Participating artists include:
- Lindsey Adelman
- Alana Burns
- Jonathan Cross
- Matthew Day Jackson
- Heinen Delfts Blauw with Piet Hein Eek
- John Hogan
- Cody Hoyt
- Sophie Lou Jacobsen
- Anna Karlin
- Laura Seymour
- Rachel Shillander
- Floris Wubben
- Bari Ziperstein
