Mapping the Horizon

Welcome to New Suns: Listening with Artists, where we connect with artists to learn from their experiences, ask them outlandish questions, and receive responses we don’t always expect. Here you will encounter, among other things, scintillating pixels, burbling ponds, and sentient blobs. What you will not find are cut-and-dry solutions, or grand claims about art’s ability to fix all of the problems facing society today. That is the work of everyone. We hope that each commission, though, illuminates the importance of process, play, and practice as we move through the world.

This inaugural issue is called Mapping the Horizon and features six artists’ explorations of horizons future, interior, and present. Commonly thought of as the place where sky meets earth, the horizon is also an unreachable place, a space of potential that begets endless journeying. The challenge of charting or depicting horizons inspired the question we asked contributors to consider this time around:

What does the future hold and what role do artists play in shaping it?

In launching this publication, we had hoped to facilitate a space of flexibility and reciprocity with artists to encourage moving at a slower and smaller pace than we often feel accustomed to. For some, the process kickstarted a new body of work or enabled experimentation. For others, it offered space for reflection on how they approach making. And as for us, we’re still pinching ourselves over the good fortune of being in conversation with such generous minds. It is our hope you feel the same after spending time with them, too.

With wonder,

Jessica Ferrer and Kate Blair
Editors