forms of the surrounding futures
Curated by Joao Laia
Galería Municipal do Porto, Porto
15 June – 17 September 2024

forms of the surrounding futures embraces an expanded queer perspective to challenge dominant narratives, replacing them with a broad rethinking and remaking of bodies, spaces and times. By embracing different standpoints in a non-conformist affinity, the constructed characteristics of the present are questioned, promoting the emergence of multiple futures. An ensemble of diverse polyphonic and multisensory positions is proposed, while the collective capacity to imagine and rehearse future worlds is both celebrated and fostered.

We are living through an intense period in which a succession of events has caused tensions and conflicts in our societies. Recently, this difficult context has been labelled as a permanent crisis. Throughout history, similar moments have created contexts of generalised fear where it was difficult, if not impossible, to imagine multiple possibilities for the future.

However, this is not the only possible scenario: there are other ways of relating to the present in order to understand it as a phase of transition and transformation, rather than a generalised collapse. Different perspectives encourage us into bolder states of mind through which we can create imaginaries that respond to our time more creatively.

The approaches presented in this exhibition adopt open attitudes to the world, which challenge the catastrophic narratives that dominate the present and promote the emergence of multiple futures. Focusing on the now, forms of the surrounding futures aim to question the supremacy of the visions that categorise our reality, promoting stories and meanings that celebrate our shared ability to imagine and rehearse worlds to come.

Photo by Dinis Santos