As communities all over the world face a modern-day pandemic, people are left to a new societal order. Concepts such as isolation and distancing, as well as technological connectivity, appear to acquire unprecedented meanings today. While many suffer from a lack of face to face communication, the bytes and metadata of unbounded Internet have become tyrannical. The shocking disruption and death caused by the Coronavirus, the unprecedented economic toll, violations of human rights, and immigration issues, all exponentially intensify a sense of alienation and anxiety. Acutely sensitive to their environment, artists often voice awareness of these problems, while having the gifts to turn our societal troubles into inspiring visual poetry.

Alien Nations 2020 gathers a group of artists who convey different forms of alienation. It looks at a myriad of issues that are affecting the psychological state of the individual and the different groups within which we live. Nearly two dozen creatives, both emerging and established, many with connections to South Florida, exhibit works in a broad range of media – painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video, and performance documentation. Inscribed in a long tradition of responses to troubled times, these pieces not only portray the current socio-political and economic landscape, but also share sensitive insights into the direction of our humanity, and hope for the future.

Alien Nations 2020 is organized by the Coral Gables Museum with the online collaboration of the Lehman College Art Gallery.  The exhibition is curated by Bartholomew Bland, Executive Director, Lehman College Art Gallery and Yuneikys Villalonga, Chief Curator, Coral Gables Museum, reconceptualizing for our current time, a  project originally organized by Villalonga and Bland for the Lehman College Art Gallery, City University of New York, February 7 – May 6, 2017.