Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West

Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West highlights the resilience and creative power of people deprived of their freedom or their own place to live.

Reflecting on the parallels and differences between two competing political systems, the exhibition presents a range of artistic forms, including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media collage, digital media and social art practice. The artwork is created by currently and formerly incarcerated and unhoused persons and their allies from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well as from the United States and Western Europe.

Irrespective of ideological regimes, individual artists and collectives in this exhibition use artistic expression to create their own visionary, transcendent spaces.

Featured artists include Adam, Narayan Aryal, Charles Bado, Gil Batle, Sandow Birk, Jennifer Blake, Christian Branscombe, Gary Brown, Mihail Chemiakin, Manuel Compito, Angel Correa, Sidney Davis, Eugene Clark El, Lumumba Edwards, Bruce Fowler, Michael Moses El, Solomon Gershov, Dean Gillispie, Alan Glover, Ezequiel González, Lily Gonzalez, Michael D. Griego, Travis Hoffmeister, Yousef Khan, Kirn Kim, Lev Kropivnitsky, Cirese LaBerge-Bader, Leonid Lamm, Lan, Linda Leigh, Phillip “Rock” Lester, Felix Lex Miranda, Boris Mikhailov, Omid Mokri, Stanislav Molodykh, Leonid Nedov, Delores New, M. Nguyen, S.I.S. North, Monica Nouwens, Juan Sanchez, Sean O’Brien, Jared Owens, Kitiona Paepule, People of the Golden Venture, J. Quintero, Karen Ruckman, Oleg Sadovnichky, Sergey Saka, Juan Sanchez, Evgeny Sayfutdinov, Bernard Seaborn, Shepard Sherbell, Marlen Spindler, Maujindel Sidhu, Tyler Michael Sirovy, Boris Sveshnikov, Cuong “Mike” Tran, Victoria Tedesco, Thanujan, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Bumdog Torres, “Duck” Roy Turrentine, Gary Tyler, Tamás Urbán, Maks Velo, Rigo Veloso, Peter Villapudua, William Wang, Obie Weathers, Kenneth Webb, John Winkleman, Vladimir Yakovlev, Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll, and Žyorunas.

Featured organizations, collectives, and projects include The People Concern Studio 526, Prison Arts Collective, Immigration Detention Archive (Archive of Border Criminologies, University of Oxford), Nochlezhka, Fresno Skateboard Salvage, Archive of Modern Conflict, Huma House, Los Angeles Poverty Department, Museum of Chinese in America, and the Future IDs Project led by Gregory Sale.

In April 2024, the Wende Museum celebrates the addition of Nadya Tolokonnikova, Gary Tyler, and Travis Hoffmeister to Visions of Transcendence.