2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2015-2016
2017-2018 | This Land
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
—Woodie Guthrie, This Land is Your Land
2016-2017 | Borders: Tension/Possibility
BORDERS: TENSION/POSSIBILITY
Borders are places of contact. Different cultures, ecologies, belief systems, lived experiences, practices, languages, and goals come face to face. Implicit in this meeting of polarities is tension. Tension, inherently neither good nor bad, always leads away from stasis and toward change.
When people migrate across political borders, when natural catastrophes alter geographical borders, when technology modifies anatomical borders, when law and justice clash, when art imitates life or infiltrates war zones, when spiritual commitment encounters economic limitation, when moral imperative brushes up against mortality – in all of these instances of border crossing, tension gives birth to questions, and with them the potential for growth.
Globally, we are currently witnessing extraordinary instances – and powerful consequences – of the breakdown of national and regional boundaries. Within the United States, polarizing issues such as border security and immigration, racism and law enforcement, and the fraught divide between economic classes, political parties, and ideological camps have become constant sources of conflict. And within the academy, borders are in flux both between and within disciplines. These changes are extending our definitions of the way we understand the arts and the sciences. We are witnessing, for example, the breakdown and re-conception of borders between the narrative, the abstract and the conceptual; between natural and artificial; between human and synthetic; between real and virtual; between singular and homogeneous and pluralistic and global; between the analytic and the intuitive. Conversations about tradition, innovation, and collaboration become increasingly vital even as they disrupt our assumptions and illuminate conflict.
We believe the theme of border crossing will provide us a fruitful and dynamic broad frame for ATB’s explorations this year.
2015-2016 | Gravity & Grace
"All the natural movements of the soul are controlled by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace is the only exception."
—Simone Weil
From the beginning of our time on this planet, we have dreamed of flying, perhaps the most potent image of a state of grace. We continue to aspire to, and be fascinated by, grace, in all of its physical and spiritual manifestations, as it temporarily suspends the laws of gravity and mortality, which is another form of gravity.
This year, in our programming and CreateLab we explore the relationship between Gravity & Grace and the intersection between Science and Art. Creation and discovery are two ways of experiencing grace. We learn how to fly and fall, fly again, fall again, fly again...