“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there,” states the opening line of a 1953 novel by English author L.P. Hartley. This sentence acknowledges the complexity and nuance of historic events and warns against nostalgia in the face of unreliable memory. William Faulkner’s similarly famous line, “The past is never dead. It isn’t even past,” seems to argue the opposite case, contending that history is always with us. The artists in “Time Travelers” create work that explores these two philosophical views and the various points in between. Beyond exploring folklore, history, and cultural products of bygone eras, the artists here reimagine elements of the past by employing craft techniques, borrowing antique objects and materials, and reclaiming ancient narratives.
This exhibition is grounded in two ambitious, large-scale installations, both part of the Art Center’s permanent collections: Mika Rottenberg’s “Cheese” and Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn’s “The Boat People.”
