The Institute of Things to Come
Four exhibitions & four workshops
February 7–October 15, 2017
Turin 10141
Italy
T +39 011 379 7600
Curated by Ludovica Carbotta & Valerio Del Baglivo
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo presents The Institute of Things to Come, a temporary research centre on futurological scenarios proposing a series of four solo exhibitions and an educational program, from February to September 2017. The Institute of Things to Come is realized thanks to the grant ORA! from Compagnia di San Paolo.
The project takes inspiration from H. G. Wells’ novel, The Shape of Things to Come, where the author transforms his personal vision of the future into a fictitious historical chronicle while narrating the story of the world from 1933, year of publication, to 2106. With these premises, along with the notion of “fiction as critique,” the aim of The Institute of Things to Come is to investigate the ways we project forward our desires, fears and expectations, by training under unknown existential conditions and by imagining alternatives to what already exists.
The Institute of Things to Come has invited the artists Bedwyr Williams, Kapwani Kiwanga, Alicia Framis and Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet to each present a work able to foreshadow possible future scenarios during four solo exhibitions. Inspired by sci-fi cinematographic techniques and academic speculations, these worst-case scenarios, mutable identities, underwater worlds and reversed political orders overlay onto familiar realities and scientific theories, affecting them to a state of precariousness. Along with the exhibition program, each artist will conduct a workshop in collaboration with another guest, an artist or a field professional, able to legitimize the fictional scenarios presented in the works and use them as actual basis to a discussion on potential circumstances.
The educational program of The Institute of Things to Come will be open to 12 international students (artists, curators, researchers, writers, etc.), selected through an open call. Three merit-based scholarships will be awarded and cover fees and accommodation costs. Submission deadline for application is December 15, 2016. For more information on exhibition program, individual courses and application procedures, please visit theinstituteofthingstocome.com.
