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Tomorrow Never Happens

Aug. 30 – Dec. 4, 2016
Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center, Bucknell University

This exhibition explores queer futurity and the aesthetics of utopia.

From marriage equality, to “bathroom bills,” to the massacre in Orlando, queerness is central to current social and political life. Current events can mire us in an unrelenting present that makes it hard to imagine a path beyond.

A rising chorus of artists is asking where do we go from here? How do queer communities imagine and work toward a better world? And how do queer theories, artistic practices, and lived experiences influence broader cultural thinking about the future?

The artworks in this exhibition represent a diverse range of sexes and sexualities, gender identities and expressions, national origins, and aesthetic sensibilities. Each work speaks with its own voice and they point down many possible paths to queer futurity. In some works, sexuality and sexual imagery are exposed as politics. Some works invoke collective strength and a sense of shared destiny. And others code utopian messages into history, mythology, and culture. Together, they suggest that our best hope may be to queer the future.

unnamed
Edie Fake, Sugar in the Tank, 2015. Ink and gouache on paper, 22 x 30 inches.

Related Events:

Tomorrow Never Happens Semester Launch Party
Friday, September 16, 7pm

Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center

Join us to celebrate Tomorrow Never Happens and the beginning of a new semester. Featuring  hip hop, drag, and  spoken word performances from Abdu Ali, Lil Miss Hot Mess, as well as Maggie Eighteen and Alex Smith of Metropolarity.

Field Trip: Hermitage and Mahantongo Heritage Center
Saturday, October 1, 10am-3:30pm

Departs from Elaine Langone Center

In connection to Tomorrow Never Happens and its focus on the concept of a queer utopia, we will be visiting this one-of-a-kind queer utopian experiment right here in Central PA. Information on how to sign up will be available soon on our website. Includes bus travel and lunch at Penn’s Tavern is on your own.

Tomorrow Never Happens Curatorial Talk

Wednesday, October 12, 6pm
Gallery Theater, Elaine Langone Center

Samek Director, Richard Rinehart will be in conversation with Bucknell Assistant Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Nikki Young. Introductions by Associate Provost Robert Midkiff. A post-talk performance by Cornelius Loy will take place in the Samek Gallery.

G.E.T. Fall Gala
Friday, November 4, 5:30-7:00pm

Samek Gallery, 3rd Floor Elaine Langone Center

The Samek’s student organization, the Gallery Engagement Team, is throwing its fall gala at the Samek in celebration of Tomorrow Never Happens. This event is for students, by students.

Film Screening: Tropical Malady
Tuesday, Nov. 28, 7 p.m.
Campus Theatre, 413 Market St., Lewisburg, PA

In partnership with the Bucknell Film/Media Studies Program, the Samek co-presents a screening of the Thai romantic psychological drama, Tropical Malady (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004, 125 min.) in conjunction with the exhibition, Tomorrow Never Happens. Free for Bucknell students, general admission is $2. More information can be found here.

Order the Tomorrow Never Happens exhibition catalog online.

Exhibition Checklist:

C-print. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, University of Southern California
Kevin McCarty, Catch One, 2004.
Print Courtesy of the artist.
Dave Kube, Responsibility/Discourse, 2015.
Silver gelatin print. Courtesy of Yancey Richardson and the artist
Zanele Muholi, Zibuyile I, Syracuse, 2015.
2 decorative ship models, doll parts, cloth, twine, fear, hair grease, tar, love, skateboard, white beads, homewood beads, rhinestones for the eyes, mirror, antique blue ticking, the ocean, slavery on an everyday basis as made real and present by the reality of white supremacy, righteous clarity, keys, coffee tins, stomach mirror, old jr. navigators flashlight, white porcelain doll heads from the bombed out doll factories in Germany, the journey from rage to understanding, the journey from compassion for everyone else to compassion for myself, the journey from lies to truth, the actualization of justice as national migration, old natty quilt parts, pain, and horror and how it feels to know that no one is actually on your side, being blamed for it, pure lard tin, red skateboard Courtesy of the artist and Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York
Vanessa German, My migrating soul with the prize blue ribbon or kick push kick push, 2014.
Acrylic on wood, plexiglass. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels
Ugo Rondinone, The Stillness, 2014.
From the East Meets West a.k.a The Expeditionary Self-Portrait Series: 1979-1989 Silver gelatin print Courtesy of Muna Tseng Dance Projects
Tseng Kwong Chi, Brasilia, Brasil, 1984.
Digital print on archival paper Courtesy of the artist, Barbara Gross Galerie, Munich, and Project 88, Mumbai
Tejal Shah, Between the Waves – Secret, 2013.
Found text, tape, cardboard, frame Courtesy of the artist
SUPERM (Slava Mogutin + Brian Kenny), MOTHERFUCKERS, 2011.
Bookwork, hardcover, perfect bound, 148pp., photo inserts Courtesy of the artist
Sameer Farooq, Speculative Archives: An Index, 2014.
Novella, 40 sticky eyes, CG poem Probiotics River Therapy CG poem courtesy of Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Neotenomie Novella courtesy of Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Neotenomie (layout), and Sloan (cover art) Sticky Eyes courtesy of Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Neotenomie
Porpentine Charity Heartscape, Neotenomie, and Sloane, Psycho Nymph Exile, 2016.
Zine, 3 audio messages Courtesy of the artists
METROPOLARITY, You Have Four Messages 2014.
HD digital video 00:24:15 Courtesy of the artist and Moran Bondaroff, Los Angeles
Jacolby Satterwhite, Reifying Desire 6: Island of Treasure, 2014.
Ink and gouache on paper. Courtesy of Western Exhibitions. Collection of Shannon Stratton, Queens, NY
Edie Fake, Sugar in the Tank, 2015.
Oil and acrylic on canvas. Private collection
Deborah Kass, Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner, 2006.
Giclée print. Courtesy of the artist
David Gremard Romero, The Creation of the First Men, 2016.
Printed 2016 Inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist
Daniel Nicoletta, Tattoo Mike Wilson, September 23, 1985.
Acrylic, faux flower petals, textiles, tinted plastic, rope, broken mirror, faux fur, leather, glitter, glass. Freese Family Collection.
Chitra Ganesh, Pussy Riot, 2015.
Hand crocheted assorted wool. Courtesy of the artist
Caroline Wells Chandler, Simone, 2016.
Hand crocheted assorted wool. Courtesy of the artist
Caroline Wells Chandler, Kathy, 2016.
Hand crocheted assorted wool. Courtesy of the artist
Caroline Wells Chandler, Stacey, 2016.
Acrylic, pearls, costume jewelry, wood, Formica. Collection of Jimmy Wright
Arch Connelly, Leaf, 1984
Screenprint on Arches paper. Samek Art Museum Collection. Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. 2014.1.3
Andy Warhol, Ladies and Gentlemen, 1975.
Acrylic on fabric over aluminum Courtesy of the artist and Various Small Fires, Los Angeles
Amir Nikravan, Rep/Set 3, 2014.
Sublimation print of red blood cells and thread stained in blood of Oliver Anene, Blue Bayer, Howard Grossman, M.D., Kelsey Louie, Lawrence D. Mass, M.D., Reverend John Moody, Loren Rice, Ty Spicha, CPT Anthony Woods, grommet Courtesy of the artist (in collaboration with Johnny Cota of SKINGRAFT) Leo Herrera Blood Mirror 1 & 2, 2015, 2016 Video 00:10:24 Courtesy of the artist
Jordan Eagles (in collaboration with Johnny Cota of SKINGRAFT), Blood Flag, 2015.
Mixed media on archival board. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Grey Associates, New York, NY
Harmony Hammond, Erasure #2, 2002.
Video 00:03:36 Courtesy of the artist and Ghost Drank
Abdu Ali, Keep Movin’ [Negro Kai] 2015.
Oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and MIER GALLERY, Los Angeles
Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Celebrity, 2012.
Cut aluminum Created with funding support from the Toronto Arts Council
Daryl Vocat, What Obligation Do They Carry?, 2011.
Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist
Diego Montoya, Portal, 2016.
Photograph. Courtesy of the artist.
Sanh Tran, Uncanny Valley of the Dolls No. 8, 2014.
Color photographs. Courtesy of Scott Zieher and Zieher Smith New York
Untitled (Band of Bikers), 1972.
Courtesy of The Hermitage
Untitled (Hermitage), circa 2015.

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3rd Floor, Elaine Langone Center
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416 Market Street
Lewisburg, PA 17837

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Top Floor, Elaine Langone Center
Bucknell University
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416 Market Street
Lewisburg, PA 17837
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