Skyward!

Exhibition at Bumbershoot 2012 about the Future in the Sky!
Curated by Shelly Leavens and Jana Brevick

Skyward! will explore the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair’s idea of the future, and the coinciding creation of the popular cartoon series The Jetsons. Depicting life in 2062, the cartoon reflects the era’s attitudes towards middle-class affluence, car culture, nuclear prowess, and The American Dream. Contemporaneously, World’s Fair engineers and designers were predicting a future life of leisure elevated into the sky. The Space Needle, Seattle Center Monorail, Bubbleator and the gadgets in the Jetsons’ Skypad apartment all demonstrated these themes. Through a combination of sculptural pieces, site-specific installation, video and interactive works, visitors to Skyward! will experience contemporary artists’ predictions of the future and what life might be like if we lived in the sky.

Artists include: Cathy McClure; Britta Johnson; Dietrich Wegner; Dumb Eyes; Emily Pothast and David Golightly: Hair & Space Museum; Hannah Viano, Vaughn Bell & Iole Alessandrini; Heather and Ivan Morison; Hollow Earth Radio’s Garrett Kelly and Amber Kai Morgan; Jana Brevick; Ron Lambert; and Shelly and Mark Leavens