Alien Forms / Future Worlds

June 30, 2026–January 10, 2027

Kemper Family Foundations Balcony and Ingrid & J.K. Lee Study Center

Fantastical creature with sharp teeth, a female figure is enveloped by the creature’s body; cut from lightly toned blue, green, and yellow paper
Print of a pink starfish-like creature with a single eye in its center, the right half presents an anatomical drawing

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” — Carl Sagan

Alien Forms / Future Worlds brings together artists across time, media, and geography who imagine bodies, environments, and worlds that feel unfamiliar but strangely recognizable. From early visions of space travel to contemporary explorations of ecological crisis, these works reflect a persistent desire to picture what lies beyond the known.

Some artists draw on ancient cosmologies and mythic texts, while others respond to modern science, popular culture, and speculative futures. Together, they suggest that the “alien” is not only something distant, but something already embedded within our own world.

Material plays a central role in these transformations. Clay, ink, paper, and print become sites where imagination takes shape—where the boundaries between body and landscape, natural and artificial, dissolve. Whether through the microscopic, the cosmic, or the dreamlike, these works invite viewers to consider how we envision other worlds, and how those visions reflect our own anxieties, hopes, and evolving relationship to the unknown.

Print of a pink starfish-like creature with a single eye in its center, the right half presents an anatomical drawing
Print of a pink starfish-like creature with a single eye in its center, the right half presents an anatomical drawing
백재중 Beck Jae-jung
Anatomy of Starfish Man
2022
Painting of people in front of a large window with a view of the moon with large craters
Painting of people in front of a large window with a view of the moon with large craters
Chesley K. Bonestell
“The children laughed at the way everyone’s hair stood on end. The stewardess explained that this was caused by the gravitational pull of the moon.”
1950
Quilt composed of narrow pieces that spiral into a black circle at the center; thicker bands of white and gray are interspersed with narrow bands of color
Quilt composed of narrow pieces that spiral into a black circle at the center; thicker bands of white and gray are interspersed with narrow bands of color
Virginia Randles
Nebula I quilt
1984
Sculpture of a cartoonish human-like creature with a large smile sitting atop a sphere covered with colorful, smiling flowers
Sculpture of a cartoonish human-like creature with a large smile sitting atop a sphere covered with colorful, smiling flowers
Murakami Takashi
Oval sitting atop a Cosmos Ball
2000