FUTUREFORMS Pulls Back the Curtain on Art, Architecture, and Process

Orbital. Photo by Matthew Millman

It may sound like questions from a freshman philosophy class, but art and design studio FUTUREFORMS really does ask, "What does it mean to create art?" The San Francisco practice, founded by Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno, rethinks how we dream, design, and build in their first exhibition, METAXIS: A Collection of Ideas and Objects by FUTUREFORMS.

"Metaxis" is the Greek word for an in-between condition, or "belonging to two realms at once," Nataly explains. “METAXIS explores what happens in between: between ideas, objects, spaces, and ways of seeing," she adds. "It reflects on the dynamic state of being in the middle of things, a shifting tension or oscillation rather than a fixed condition."

Continuum. Photo by Matthew Millman

The exhibition showcases art and architecture in progress, not a finished product. More than 20 physical models, drawings, videos, and photographs reveal how this process is continually shifting and open to interpretation. The works were created by FUTUREFORMS over the past 10 years, but here they are intertwined as a series.

"The exhibited works move fluidly between perception and imagination, inside and outside, presence and absence,” Nataly says. Jason elaborates on the selected works, saying, "The exhibition is structured like a studio visit, with process models and prototypes exhibited alongside more finished work. It illustrates how our practice brings together knowledge and tools from multiple disciplines—art, architecture, computational design, and more."

Weatherscape. Photo by J Genaro Limon

METAXIS also incorporates larger works that FUTUREFORMS has designed and installed elsewhere. For example, Orbital, the studio's twisting public sculpture in San Francisco, is represented by several physical models and a full-scale mockup. Other exhibit representations include the Levitt Pavilion in San Jose, an outdoor public bandshell that locals call "the Dragon Pavilion," and Stretto, a 60-foot-tall public sculpture wrapping around a concert hall and currently under construction in Anaheim, California.

METAXIS: A Collection of Ideas and Objects by FUTUREFORMS is on view at the California College of the Arts (CCA) Campus Gallery until March 20, when it will move to the University of Virginia.

—Dalene Rovenstine

Cosmos. Photo by Matthew Millman