On January 26th, 18th Street launches its most ambitious exhibition series ever, THE FUTURE OF NATIONS, a year long look at many of the issues that will determine the future of the nation, viewed from the multiple perspectives of an array of contemporary artists.
The opening reception for our initial offering, the group exhibition PATRIOT ACTS and the HABEAS LOUNGE both conceived and curated by Linda Pollack will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2008, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.  The exhibition features Los Angeles based artists: Irina Contreras, Francesca Zeal Harris, Sara Hendren, Vincent Johnson, Hillary Mushkin, Meena Nanji, Rebecca Ripple, Pam Strugar, Susan Silton, and Shirley Tse.
Inspired by Samuel Johnson's words written in 1775 "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel", Linda Pollack has curated an art exhibition that departs from recent manifestations of patriotism (Go out and shop, the USA PATRIOT ACT) and has invited eleven artists to create new works about different constitutional issues for PATRIOT ACTS. While the works themselves do not offer a prescription for how to be a patriot, the exhibit explores visions about core constitutional issues confronting us today. Pollack suggests that it is engagement with the complex issues of constitutional democracy, and not mindless support of the various schemes cooked up by present day scoundrels, where true patriotism, alluded to in Johnson's critique 200+ years ago, resides.
The group exhibition will run from January 12 to March 28, 2008.