Season 9: Curator Justin Hoover
ungodly: the spiritual medium

2019-2020

Each society has its own version of creation myths, god figures, magical and supernatural beings, and the afterlife. These stories give hope and meaning to life, define who we are, where we have been, and what we value. They provide insight into our shared histories and help track a path to the future. In best case scenarios, they lead to empowerment, growth, healing and love. But stories such as these also consecrate power to certain sections of society while excluding others. Imbedded in these tales are often unexamined subthemes of misogyny, exploitation and alienation. ungodly employs queer and allied artists to investigate classical and modern folklore, fairy tales, creation stories, and supernatural iconography to strike out against misogyny, dispel cultural misconceptions about gender, and provide alternatives to narratives of hetero-normative power structures and the implications of social subservience.

Justin Hoover (胡智騰) works with time-based visual arts for community engagement and collective social actions. Since 2004, Hoover has worked as a curator and gallery director, focusing on exhibition production, participatory engagement design and public programming. This ranges from conventional white wall art shows in museums, galleries and art fairs, to black box screenings, popup happenings, performances, public art, and art in alternative contexts. Currently Hoover works as the founder and principal of Collective Action Studio, an art production, curation, and engagement design company focusing in the Bay Area and internationally.

Hoover holds Bachelor Degrees in Peace Studies and French Literature from Colgate University, a Master Degree in New Genres Fine Art from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master Degree of Public Administration of International Management from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Hoover has performed, curated, and exhibited at numerous venues around the world including the Venice Biennale for Architecture, 2012, as an artist featured in the US Pavilion (Design Action for the Common Good); the Sculpture Quadrenniale Riga, Latvia, 2016; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Art Life Festival in Guangzhou, China 2011; Werkstattkino, München, Germany; Time-Based Art Festival at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR, 2011; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; the Berkeley Art Museum, and many other venues.