FRONT 2022: Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows

July 16, 2022 – October 2, 2022
FRONT International

1460 West 29th Street
Cleveland, OH

Image courtesy of event organizer.

Image courtesy of event organizer.

FRONT presents its second edition, Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows, conceived by Tina Kukielski and Prem Krishnamurthy, which launches across Northeast Ohio July 16–October 2, 2022. Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows embraces art as an agent of transformation, a mode of healing, and a therapeutic process. The title is an homage to a 1957 poem ​Two Somewhat Different Epigrams” by Langston Hughes, who moved to Cleveland in his childhood and maintained an artistic connection to the region.

Amidst a time of ongoing tragedy and loss, FRONT 2022 explores how artmaking offers the possibility to transform and heal us — as individuals, as groups, and as a society. Spanning over twenty sites in Cleveland, Akron, and Oberlin, the exhibition bears witness to the region’s past and present scars, from the environmental degradation caused by industrial production to police violence and urban fracture. Yet alongside interlocking public and personal crises, healing is contemporary Cleveland’s biggest industry; furthermore, organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous (founded in Akron) or Art Therapy Studio (one of the nation’s first such independent institutions) represent influential models for collective care. Learning from these and other local precedents, Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows emphasizes collaborative creative processes, working closely with institutions across the region, and connecting artists with local communities. Emerging over multiple timeframes, FRONT 2022 approaches the slow process of curating as a way to leave lasting traces upon civic and cultural infrastructures, while also embracing the ephemeral glimpses of beauty that art — like a rainbow — can still offer.

The exhibition features over 75 regional, national, and international artists working across painting, drawing, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, photography, video, text, performance, and other media. Ongoing exhibitions and public installations work in tandem with online and time-based programs. Starting with how daily practice allows individual artists to cultivate liberation through the everyday rituals of creation, the triennial also demonstrates how aesthetic pleasure — sharing joy through movement, music, craft, and color — can bridge differences between people to bring them together. Finally, the exhibition suggests ways that artmaking can speak with power: showing us how to recognize and reimagine the invisible structures that govern contemporary life.

FRONT 2022 Artists:

Abigail DeVille, Ahmet Öğüt, Alexandra Noel, Alexandria Couch, Allana Clarke, Alyssa Taylor Wendt, Andrea Carlson, Art Therapy Studio, Asad Raza, Audra Skuodas, Benedict Scheuer, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff, Cassie Thornton, Chakaia Booker, Charmaine Spencer, Chauncey Hare, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, Cooking Sections, Cory Arcangel, Daniel Lind-Ramos, Dansbana, Devan Shimoyama, Dexter Davis, Diana Al-Hadid, Dominic Palarchio, Dr. Lady J, Every Ocean Hughes, Firelei Báez, Haseeb Ahmed, Isabelle Andriessen, Jace Clayton, Jacolby Satterwhite, Joe Namy, Judith Scott, Julie Mehretu, Jumana Manna, Jurriaan Andriessen, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Karel Martens, La Wilson, Langston Hughes, Leigh Ledare, Lenka Clayton & Phillip Andrew Lewis, Linda D.L. Green, Loraine Lynn, Maria Hassabi, Martin Beck, Matt Eich, Michele Rizzo, Moyra Davey, Naeem Mohaiemen, Nicole Eisenman, Nora Turato, Paul O’Keeffe, Renée Green, Robert Reed, Sarah Oppenheimer, Scott Mars, Seuil Chung, Sonia Gomes, Tacita Dean, Theaster Gates, Tony Cokes, Tyler Mitchell, Wong Kit Yi, Yoshitomo Nara, and others

Closing weekend: Thursday, September 29 – Sunday, October 2

Thursday, September 29

Friday, September 30

Saturday, October 1

Sunday, October 2