Who can afford to dream? Given the systemic racism and racial trauma that Black people often face in society, DREAM TEMPLE (for Octavia) aims to counteract the exhaustion and stress that is carried intergenerationally while also creating a portal of healing and imagining.
About the Artists
Mia Imani Harrison is an international interdisciplinary artist. She researches how communities can heal individual, communal, and societal trauma by creating works that live between art, ritual, and science. This “third-way” mixes unconventional methods (dreams, rituals) and science (ethnography, geography, psychoanalysis) to create new ways of being and becoming. Her creative and collaborative work has lived in Akademie Schloss, KVS – Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg, Kunsthalle Gent, PICA, Prater Galerie, Seattle Art Museum Lab, Savvy Contemporary, Wa Na Wari and more. Her written work lives via Art Papers, Cultured Magazine, Contemporary And, Daddy Magazine, Frieze, Hyperallergic, Vice, and more. She recently co-published the first academic article about dream technology and the radical rest movement.
Mayola Tikaka is an international architect and art director. His work lies in the implications of space through data, human organization and their cultural influence through the lens of architecture. He specializes in scenography, brand identity and spatial storytelling. Recent projects and awards include: AIA LA NextLA 2022 Merit award – Echo Park Co-Living with West of West (Los Angeles); Retail scenography and brand experiences – Garrett Leight California Optical *longlisted on the 2023 Dezeen Awards, Metabolic Selves – An interactive digital exhibition 2020 – Serpentine Galleries (London); A contributor for the Race Space Architecture Project 2020 (London), and more.
DREAM TEMPLE (for Octavia) opens on Thursday, March 7 at ARTS at King Street Station. Artists Mia Imani Harrison and Mayola Tikaka use the writings of Octavia Butler, who prophesied 2024 as the year society in the United States grows unstable, to create a gathering space for Black folx to be heard and to hear each other. As Seattle is morphing into a new version of itself, how might we also visualize a future where rest instead of productivity is central?
Artists Mia Imani Harrison and Mayola Tikaka shared that “DREAM TEMPLE (for Octavia) is an opportunity to revitalize the area by creating space to imagine new possibilities for the city. By bringing together members of the community to share dreams and learn new practices around rest, the program aims to counteract the extractive nature of capitalism and create a portal for healing and imagining.”
DREAM TEMPLE (for Octavia) will run from March 7 to May 23. Gallery hours are Wed. – Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and until 8 p.m. on First Thursdays.
What to Expect: DREAM TEMPLE (for Octavia) features an enclosed resting space with low lighting containing resting mats, an altar, and projections featuring imagery of Black rest and contemplation of Octavia Butler’s work. Over the course of the exhibition, the space will feature rest rituals, interviews, and performances by the artists.
