Space 4 Art is proud to continue its dynamic series of cutting-edge exhibitions, public programs, and community-engaged events throughout 2026— an initiative that will at once spotlight and strengthen the city’s vibrant, experimental community.
The third exhibition in this series, Instructions for Unrest: Art Against Complacency, is a group exhibition exploring art as a force for disruption, resistance, and social change. Responding to a moment of political tension and public dissent, the exhibition brings together artists who use their work to confront injustice, challenge power, and refuse silence.
Across a range of materials and approaches, the works call attention to systems of inequity while urging viewers to stay engaged, question complacency, and consider their role in shaping collective futures.
Curated by Alessandra Moctezuma, artists include:
Doris Bittar, Jennifer de Poyen, Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), Patricia Frischer, Terri Hughes-Oelrich, Linda Litteral, Nicole Gonzalez, Nick McPherson (Nicholas Danger), Teresa Mill, Michelle Montjoy, Marcos Ramirez ERRE, Katie Ruiz, Cameron York, and Claudia Biezunski-Rodriguez (Sew Loka).
Curatorial Statement:
Complacency is the quiet partner of injustice. It thrives in silence, in comfort, in the belief that someone else will speak, act, or resist. Instructions for Unrest: Art Against Complacency emerges from a moment when that silence is breaking.
Over the past year, streets around the world have filled with bodies refusing to remain still. Protest has re-entered public life with urgency, fueled by political extremism, social inequity, environmental collapse, and the erosion of civil rights. Artists have responded in kind, not with neutrality, but with defiance. In studios, on walls, through materials both fragile and forceful, they are asking what it means to refuse obedience.
This exhibition gathers artists who understand art not as decoration, but as disruption. Their works expose systems of power, challenge historical amnesia, and confront the seductive ease of looking away. Some pieces mourn, some provoke, some demand accountability, but all insist that art can be a form of resistance.
Unrest is not chaos; it is a refusal to accept the unacceptable. It is the friction that makes change possible. This exhibition does not offer comfort. Instead, it asks viewers to consider their own position within the structures these works reveal. To witness is not enough. The question that remains is: what will you do next?
Presented by: Space 4 Art in partnership with Art Produce
Supported by: The Prebys Foundation Arts Ecosystem Grant