Opening Reception: Friday, December 5th, 6-9pm

Dreams have long been celebrated as sources of inspiration and analogues for artworks. In dreams we see that the world might be otherwise, that oppressive forces might be overcome, and that our wishes might be fulfilled. But the dreams that have driven the development of the modern world have resulted, to the contrary, in previously unimaginable nightmares. We live in a world where genocide has become commonplace, where the necessary conditions for life on earth are threatened by our own actions, and where there seems to be no limit to our exploitation of one another.

Is it naïve now to dream--a disavowal of the conflicts that in fact define our condition? Or has the need to dream become more urgent than ever?

For MISSION 17's 5th Annual Juried Exhibition titled Dream On!--with both the sarcasm and sincerity implied by the phrase--we invited artists to submit work in response to the imperative.