Exhibition Title: Worldbuilding and Kink

Institution: MIR International Rubber Weekend

Role: Co-Curator with Riley

Date: 10/17/2023 - 11/22/2023

Exhibition Summary:

Worldbuilding is the act or process of constructing a world, oftentimes an imaginary world. This is a common practice within the genre of science fiction. However, while imaginary, these worlds are powerful vessels for considering what’s possible within reality. Author and activist Adrienne Marie Brown writes, “The realm of science and speculative fiction could be a great place to intentionally practice the futures we long for.” She continues, “all organizing is science fiction….we are bending the future, together, into something we have never experienced.” In a similar fashion, those who engage in self-expression at the fringe of what is deemed acceptable by society are constantly rewriting what is possible. As kinksters, we find and create different forms of joy-seeking, pleasure practice, relationship structures, community-building, and more. In a sense, we engage in a form of everyday worldbuilding. We create ever-expanding conceptions of the human experience that challenge those around us to consider what is possible or acceptable.

This exhibition was created to honor this aspect of kink and curate a collection of artworks by contemporary kinksters that each engage in worldbuilding in their own way. We invite you to explore and consider the different ways each artist is pushing the boundaries of the normative “world,” what kinds of worlds they are each constructing, and for who.

See the below gallery for images of the works included in this show. Read more about the seven artists included in the show here.

*Special thanks to William of MIR for giving Riley and I the space and platform to curate this show and to the seven artists for trusting us to showcase their works.