The Brand Library and Art Center continues its stellar tradition of outstanding art exhibitions with Artifacts from an Unborn Empire, curated by Jason Jenn and Vojislav Radovanović. The exhibition brings together twenty-two artists whose works examine how civilizations re imagined, constructed, preserved, and remembered. Through sculpture, installation, photography, textiles, archival materials, videos and artist books, this ambitious exhibition provides a timely exploration of the systems, symbols, histories, and material traces through which societies understand themselves.
The artists incorporate their multi-cultural upbringings and experiences into their work, which reflects the show’s homage to America’s 250th anniversary. For example, Kayla Tange draws on her life as a Korean-American adoptee in her series entitled Intergenerational Toxins, which incorporates sculptural forms that function as both relics and offerings. In another of work, she uses dried persimmons, braided hair, rope and found materials to create haunting, evocative images.
Among the exhibition’s largest and most impressive installations is Nancy Kay Turner’s Chaos of Memory, a thirty-two-foot wide wall installation that transforms a myriad of vintage materials in the form of deconstructed books, vintage photographs, ephemera weathered and domestic objects into a meditation on memory, collecting, and the stories embedded within everyday items of our lives. Reflecting on her lifelong connection to books and libraries, Turner describes these spaces as places of companionship, imagination, and discovery. By situating the installation on a functioning library, Chaos of Memory highlights the role of books and archives not only as repositories of knowledge, but as living containers of human experience.
Another compelling work is Revolution Tree of Life by curator Jason Jenn, which draws on Midwestern family traditions of female quilters and crafters. The quilt is composed entirely of materials in the artist’s possession, including costume fabrics remnants, scraps from face masks and old clothing. Approaching his work from a queer perspective, Jenn embraces improvisation over precision.
Artifacts from an Unborn Empire reconsiders how civilizations are formed and who gets to define them. Through a range of natural and manufactured materials, they play with and challenge the systems, stories, and symbols that shape our sense of power, history, and belonging. Blending imagination with critique, the exhibition explores cultural myths, colonial legacies, and the forces that construct contemporary life. Timed with the 250th anniversary of the United States, it asks the compelling question: what kinds of empires do we inherit, and what new ones might rise in their place?
Artifacts from an Unborn Empire runs through December 31 at the Brand Library and Art Center, 1601 West Mountain Street Glendale, CA 91201. (818) 548-2051. Hours: Tuesday – Thursday: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM, Saturday: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Friday, Sunday, Monday: CLOSED. Info@BrandLibrary.org