Future Anterior
Curated by Mia Palmer-Verevis, Madeleine Sherburn, and Emeline Robinson-ShawPhotos by Sebastian Kainey
Featuring work by Joseph Blair, Emily Simek, and Joy Zhou, and new commissions from Autumn Royal, Bixiao Zhang, and Indra Liusuari
Future Anterior features the work of lens-based artists who subvert the use of archival technologies as tools of control. Taking its name from the future perfect tense — the “will have been”— Future Anterior explores new methods of record creation which reject the inert chronicling of places and events.
Looking to deconstruct the oppressive logic of surveillance, classification, and preservation embodied by traditional archiving techniques, artists mobilise the material conditions, associations, and histories both indexed and concealed by the image frame. Experimenting with different modes of documentation, Future Anterior offers a flexible basis for collective memory; inviting a space for speculation by thinking through the document as a renewable resource for elaboration and play.
Read the exhibition catalogue here
Read Autumn Royal’s poetic artwork labels here
This exhibition took place on the stolen land of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. We offer our respect to their Elders, past, present, and
emerging, and to all Australian First Nations people. Sovereignty was never ceded.