sheridyn villarreal
business & entrepreneurship
Queer* Futurities
Project statement
Developed in tandem with Villarreal's art history thesis, "Trans/futurities: Queering the Cyborg as a Strategy of Transgender Disidentification", "Queer Futurities" is a proposed interdisciplinary exhibition of contemporary art to be presented at Columbia College Chicago's Hokin Gallery in the spring of 2023. The proposed exhibition is a survey of contemporary queer artists who invoke notions of the cyborg to engage in conversation on the experiences of gender and embodiment in a culture mediated by technology. The artists represented in the exhibition will feature current and former Columbia College Chicago students in addition to emerging artists from across the United States. The artwork exhibited will include sculpture, painting, photography, video, digital media, and immersive installation. The exhibition will continue to be developed over the course of the next year in preparation to be installed in late February 2023. The resulting exhibition will be the collaboration between Chicago's dynamic queer community, Columbia College Chicago's network of talented students and alum, the department of business and entrepreneurship, and the mentorship of Prof. Bob Blandford.
About the Artist
Sheridyn Villarreal is graduating senior, majoring in Art History and minoring in Visual Arts Management and Fine Arts. Their areas of research include avant-garde art movements of the early twentieth century, queer art and theory, contemporary Latin American art, and new media. They will be presenting their undergraduate thesis, "Trans/futurities: Queering the Cyborg as a Strategy of Transgender Disidentification" at Columbia College Chicago's symposium of art history and visual culture. During their time at Columbia College Chicago, they have interned at Artpace San Antonio and currently work as an exhibition and curatorial assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. In the future, they plan on pursuing their graduate degree in modern and contemporary art history and museum studies.
“Creative concepts are made real only through strong management skills. Sheridyn epitomizes the ability of contemporary creatives to comfortably navigate between theory and practice, drawing on practical business and entrepreneurial skills to envision and produce original work. Building on their academic art history thesis project, Sheridyn has curated Queer* Futurities, an exhibition featuring young and emerging Chicago-based artists exploring, subverting, and celebrating social norms.”
— Robert Blandford, Associate Professor, Business and Entrepreneurship