Alien Nations explores how artists convey a sense of people’s alienation from modern society. During a time of great political upheaval around the globe, Alien Nations looks at how a myriad of social issues affect the psychological state of the individual. Isolation, dislocation, absence of communication, human rights, immigration, and technology that directly impacts basic human relationships all exponentially intensify the sense of alienation in an age of anxiety.

Curated by Bartholomew F. Bland and Yuneikys Villalonga

The exhibition presents a broad range of media by both emerging and established artists who express their visions through painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video, and performance documentation. Alien Nations brings together 18 artists whose works reflect on issues of the individual’s identity within today’s social disorder. Artists include: Lisa Alonzo, Hernan Bas, Suzette Bross, Patricia Cazorla, Jesse Chun, Richard Deon, Lalla Essaydi, Carla Gannis, Scherezade Garcia, Katy Grannan, Mona Hatoum, Meg Hitchcock, Alison Kuo, Cecilia Mandrile, Lothar Osterburg, Nancy Saleme, Nari Ward, and Tricia Wright. The exhibition addresses the gnawing modern malaise of humankind – a sense that we are increasingly “plugged in” to a technology-drenched society, in which, despite nonstop instantaneous communication and thousands of online “friends,” the world becomes ever more alienating to our fragile individual identities and our uncertain places in the world.