The libidinal flux of the teenager has left a permanent mark on culture, normalizing radical consumption in service of an endless will to change. With the end of earth’s resources in sight, this paradigm needs revision. Coming of Age presents the work of seven artists from different parts of the world that subvert our material and cultural landscape with meditative gestures. Whether looking at Takahiro Iwasaki transforming a toothbrush into the site of an electric pylon, Aki Inomata’s alternative housing for hermit crabs that recall a sense of itineracy, Essi Kausalainen’s table top performance, or Ebony G. Patterson’s coffin procession, these works acknowledge a predominant state of violence while calling for a greater  optimism. Rebecca Beachy inserts a taxidermied bird into the gallery walls as a time capsule-cum-relic. Tsherin Sherpa uses traditional Thangka painting techniques to swirl subjects in a reflection of instability, and Rhonda Holberton presents a virtual desert, recalling  the ambiguous possibilities of digital space and its impact on daily life. Coming of Age torques scale, technology, and location in search of sustainable agency and repair.

Visual artist Aki Inomata, from Japan, received an ACC Fellowship to observe contemporary art activities and participate in an artist residency program in the United States.