An Exhibition That Looks to the Bronx for Inspiration

Working Knowledge: Shared Imaginings, New Futures at the Bronx Museum is a groundbreaking exhibition that serves as a living laboratory for contemporary art, community building, and new media. The artists featured in this exhibition are actively engaged in inclusive modes of knowledge production, inviting the public to explore critical themes such as socially responsive design, intergenerational memory, and ancestral wisdom. Central to the exhibition is a focus on ecological and technological ecosystems in the Bronx and beyond, with works that utilize coding, gardening, listening, and dancing to provoke thought and engagement.

The exhibition opens with installations that address sustainability from both an ecological and communal perspective. Mary Mattingly’s “Rooted” (2024–25) is a striking multi-tier shelving unit filled with plant life, showcasing flora from New York that have the potential to thrive in the face of climate change. The “Oral Futures Booth” (2025) by Black Quantum Futurism invites visitors to record reflections and desires for their home, contributing to a “quantum time capsule” that bridges past, present, and future generations.

One of the standout works in the upper gallery is Lynne Yun’s “Concourse” (2025), a unique typeface inspired by the visual landscape of the Bronx. This font reflects the borough’s unique topography, mirroring its hills and valleys in its design. Interactive works such as Stephanie Dinkins’s “BronxBot” (2025) and Melanie Hoff’s “Dance Poem Revolution” (2024) invite visitors to engage with AI chatbots and generate political poems through movement, demonstrating the possibilities of new media in contemporary art.

In another gallery space, “The Bronx Dictionary of Dark Matters” (2020–ongoing) by Zainab Aliyu, American Artist, and the School for Poetic Computation transforms a wall into an expansive mind map of critical terms related to social justice issues. Visitors can contribute their own definitions, adding to the evolving dialogue around race, policing, and surveillance. This installation sheds light on the hidden forces of race and power that shape society, drawing parallels to the invisible yet impactful nature of dark matter in physics.

The final gallery showcases works that pay homage to Bronx lifeways, such as Azikiwe Mohammed’s “El carrito de comida de DeAndre / DeAndre’s Food Chart” (2025) and Kite and Alisha B. Wormsley’s “Cosmologyscape” (2024), which blends Lakota visual iconography with Black American quilting traditions. Ari Melenciano’s “Cosmeage” (2025) presents a digital interpretation of pan-African performance traditions through animated choreography, highlighting the intersection of ancestral knowledge and contemporary digital practices.

While the use of AI in art raises environmental concerns, Working Knowledge thoughtfully explores these technologies without glorifying them. The exhibition’s deep connection to the Bronx community enriches its significance, with each artist drawing inspiration from the borough’s unique landscapes, communities, and politics. Working Knowledge: Shared Imaginings, New Futures is a must-see exhibition that challenges perceptions of art, technology, and community engagement.

For those interested in experiencing this innovative exhibition, Working Knowledge: Shared Imaginings, New Futures is on display at the Bronx Museum through July 6. Curated by Vera Petukhova as part of the Visions2030 Project, this exhibition promises to inspire and provoke thought on the intersection of art, technology, and community.