uncontained: categories always leak
April 28 - May 13, 2023
Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art

uncontained: categories always leak navigates colonial power, museological plunder, and global consumption through the concept of containment. With the vase as our point of departure, we address and break apart the physical force of containment as manifested in tightly controlled museum settings. Exhibiting artists use vases, vitrines, or vessel-like forms to trace global power dynamics while also addressing broader concepts of value, spillage, and emptiness. We ask, how does containment relate to identity, culture, and power? What, or who, is being contained? How are artists breaking free of restraints, liberating what is confined, flowing over and beyond their containers?

The five artists—Candice Lin, Cathy Lu, LaRissa Rogers, Cammie Staros, and Stephanie Syjuco—unearth the hidden histories of colonial goods to connect material culture with human experiences.

Curated by Julianna Heller, Zoë Latzer, and Meghan Smith.

This exhibition is accompanied by a limited-edition print publication, featuring artwork documentation, original essays by the curators, artist interviews, and newly commissioned inserts by Consuelo Tupper Hernández and Shao-Feng Hsu.