Make Room is pleased to present Taxonomies of Imagination, a multigenerational group exhibition curated by artist Andrew Sendor exploring the power of the imagination as it manifests across eras. Significant historical works are installed alongside works by contemporary artists to establish a setting that encourages a reappraisal of imagination’s role in contemporary culture, especially in contrast to how creative mental processes have traditionally been conceived.

The exhibition broadly considers imagination as the internal faculty to generate images and ideas, which can propel artists to create disruptive works that upend conventions and the status quo, as well as expose previously unseen aspects within the fabric of society. In De Anima, Aristotle distinguished imagination (“that in virtue of which an image occurs in us”) from perception, belief, and desire; nonetheless, artists have historically probed their imaginations to lead viewers into such expansive sectors of the human psyche.

Shaped by a collaborative spirit, the exhibition evolved organically over several months through a series of studio visits and in-depth conversations with the exhibiting artists, who highlighted various understandings of imagination in their work, including: transcendent uses of the imagination (facilitating one to look beyond the range of typical physical experience); instructive uses of the imagination (responding to or conveying information within a given time and place); and sensory imagination (relating to experiences stimulated by physical senses).

The works on view span eight decades and a range of categories, destabilizing the consensus of meaning that artworks traditionally accrue through shared discourse. For example, works steeped in modernism are exhibited alongside contemporary works that interrogate historical ideologies, asking us to reflect on how meaning is constructed and how reevaluating a consensus of meaning can enable new pathways for societal progress.

Included in the exhibition are works by: Ali Banisadr, Ross Bleckner, Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Cornell, Julie Curtiss, Francesca Facciola, Elizabeth Glaessner, Jenna Gribbon, Sally J. Han, Haley Josephs, Ajay Kurian, Kwong Wing Kwan, René Magritte, Julia Maiuri, Tony Matelli, Jenny Morgan, Lamar Peterson, Pablo Picasso, and Sun Woo.