'Worldmaking' refers to how we collectively make the spaces we inhabit through symbolic practices. Philosopher Nelson Goodman coined this term in the 1980s.
There are many actual worlds, and all these are made by us. A single individual will inhabit multiple worlds during their lifetime. Our worlds are the product of how we represent our lives through our minds, practices, languages, and symbols. Worlds are not discovered by us but created by us. Some worlds touch our souls in indelible ways, and others you won't want to let go of because they become part of your consciousness in a way that refuses to stay fixed.
Multiple worlds coexist when we consider how we conceive a sense of place. What happens when we rivet our attention exclusively on ourselves and the world? 'My world' and 'our world' are the two immediate, intimate places. There is also the 'wider world', which urges us to imagine the world in a larger sense.
Art is an assembly of all the evidence we place together and start to see things. One work, one outcome, the artist, the process, touches many fields of knowledge, systems, beliefs, experiences and lives. How do we bring about the entire representation of our worlds inside our minds? How do forces shape our experience individually and collectively, and how might we make these forces visible? Do we perceive our worlds through a pattern that plays out through practice, or are we predisposed to our internal landscapes - the explanations, emotional reactions and logistics of grouping certain things to understand them better?
How do you inhabit the worlds you create? Do you fly away from your truth as you pursue it, or do you collide with what feels true?
In other words, are you this artist in every universe?
'Worldmaking / The Me I Saw' is a group exhibition by HAKE House of Art.