Market Gallery: The Persistence of Utopia

At a time when society appears to be in a state of continual crisis, political and ecological, and there are deep divisions over which direction our futures should take, the concept of utopia may seem to be naïve, idealistic and irrelevant. However, in opposition to this sense of despondency the Utopian impulse persists across contemporary cultural practice, taking many forms from text, fine art, architecture, the moving image and interactive arts.

The works exhibited in ‘The Persistence of Utopia’ represent the diversity of practices across the School of Art Design and Architecture and involve a variety of media, from painting, illustration, photography, video and animation to architectural models and collages. The exhibition examines how the Utopian imagination is developed particularly in relationship to ideas of the ‘everyday’. The work explores a number of perspectives on utopian and dystopian thinking and counteracts the wider negative context with subtle humour and a critical affirmation of difference.

The Persistence of Utopia is produced in association with the Cosmia Festival, a new arts festival, based in Huddersfield, dedicated to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction. The first festival takes place from 25 October-to 3 November 2019.

The Persistence of Utopia is curated by: Professor Nic Clear and David Smith
Exhibitors: Stella Baraklianou, Nic Clear, Claire Diggle, Danilo Di Mascio, Donal Fitzpatrick, Roddy Hunter, Marko Jobst, Spyridon Kaprinis, Sara Nesteruk, Hyun Jun Park, Christian Peterson, Andrew Taylor, Mathew Taylor, Katrina Whitehead, Simon Woolham.