Soft Power: A Conversation for the Future

This fully illustrated catalogue accompanies an exhibition organized by SFMOMA comprised of new and recent works by twenty international artists that contemplates the ways in which artists explore their roles as citizens and social actors through their work. Taken together, the works presented in SOFT POWER inspire serious reflection on the historical legacy of conquest and domination as it has come to shape the rise and fall of economies, social organization, labor, and migration. With extensive installation images of works by Haig Aivazian, Marwa Arsanios, Nairy Baghramian, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Nikhil Chopra, Minerva Cuevas, Cevdet Erek, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Hassan Khan, Duane Linklater, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Cinthia Marcelle, Dave McKenzie, Jason Moran, Carlos Motta, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Eamon Ore-Giron, Pratchaya Phinthong, Xaviera Simmons, and Tavares Strachan.

The catalogue features essays on ecofeminism; the poetic concepts of Édouard Glissant; the state of time-based art; colonization of narrative; and a conversation on dreams and their manifestations. Rich with images of this timely exhibition, the book also includes commissioned contributions on the exhibiting artists by a striking lineup of curators, thinkers, and writers including Magdalyn Asimakis, Athena Athanasiou, Karma R. Chávez, Thanavi Chotpradit, Haytham El-Wardany, Stamatina Gregory, Marcela Guerrero, Max Haiven, Brian Keith Jackson, Naeem Mohaiemen, Meg Onli, Uhuru Phalafala, and Jovanna Venegas.