黑料不打烊

Of the many things that Senator John Lewis has been noted for besides his heroic and often dangerous struggle for racial equality, was his strategy of non-violent, civil disobedience that he poetically coined as 鈥済ood trouble.鈥� The full passage of which his clarion call appears is in a 2018 tweet: 鈥淒o not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.鈥� As the 2020 Presidential Election approaches, it is now more than ever to engage in 鈥済ood trouble鈥� whether this be in the streets, the workplace, the classroom, or the exhibition space. Artists have a history of expressing variants of Lewis鈥� sociopolitical resistance through their art when confronted by injustice. Some early instances include Ben Shahn鈥檚 The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti (1931-32 ) and Jacob Lawrence鈥檚 Struggle: From the History of the American People (1954-56), and since then a slew of artists not only working singularly but also in collectives. And it is in this spirit that Good Trouble: Artists Respond to the 2020 Presidential Election dovetails on, as it is more than an exhibition but a mobilization towards the most important election in recent US history and attendant ramifications both within the US and abroad.

President Trump鈥檚 withdrawal from the Paris Agreement exacerbating climate change, the building of a wall along the US/Mexico border, the violent dehumanization of migrants including children along the aforementioned divide, and Trump鈥檚 xenophobia and islamophobia are just a few of many examples of the far-reaching consequences of current administrative policies that need to be stopped, for the sake of the

planet, on November 3, 2020.     鈥�

Because of the repercussions of dangerous foreign decisions as well as domestic by the current government, Good Trouble: Artists Respond to the 2020 Presidential Election demands it to be an international exhibition. It is also an assemblage, a convocation, or campaign that will launch artistic salvos against those who seek to oppress the common good. Analogous to the exhibition鈥檚 formal heterogeneity is its varied subject matter that rubs up against all forms of social inequality, police brutality, nationalism, environmental destruction and so forth. The exhibition鈥檚 curatorial structure entails to mirror the intensification of the national political landscape leading up to the 2020 Presidential Election. It will do this by incrementally installing artworks 鈥媜fficially 鈥媠tarting on October 17, safe opening reception (rsvp) in-situ and online on October 25, culminating with the election with performances, live feeds of the election from both Democratic and Republican headquarters, as well as podcasts from artists in Washington DC streets engaging in guerrilla journalism as performance art.