Work by Jessie French. Photo: Jessica Maurer. Courtesy: the artist and La Trobe Art Institute, Djaara Country/Bendigo.

How are we to imagine the future at a time that feels like the end? In this exhibition, curated by Amelia Wallin, colonial and capitalist ruins become both condition and material for revisionist histories and imagined alternative futures. I think future, I think past includes the Australian premiere of international artists Peggy Ahwesh and Sophia Al-Maria, alongside leading Australian artists Daniel Boyd, Jemima Wyman and Jessie French.

Across sculpture and moving image, the artworks use a wide variety of materials that range from emerging to near obsolete technologies, such as new algae polymers, computer generated imagery, CRT televisions, high-definition video, and found digital source material. Together, they offer different lenses for imaging past and future conflicts, reflecting our planetary degradation and assembling optimistic plans for earthly survival.

The exhibition takes its title from a comment by artist Peggy Ahwesh, in conversation with Andrea Lissoni, reflecting on the cyclical nature of her films in 2021 for Mousse Magazine. Thinking through the past and the future simultaneously is a central concern of the exhibition. Imaging the effects of present day colonial and petro-capitalist economies, the artworks in the exhibition reckon with our culpability in the near future.

Opening Event: Friday 30 August.