considers the spoken and heard vernacular in the American South and ways in which we communicate across the Region. Yes, it is accents and pronunciations, but it is also an auditory marker and a trace of place. Twang is hyperlocal lingo and addresses region-specific, city-specific, even house-specific vocabulary. It is a Southern export, a diasporic carrier. It is also reverb, echo, and slowness, which can be observed through the timbre of a musical instrument like a banjo, or André 3000’s New Blue Sun. The theme troubles cultural assumptions and provides intrigue for writing and art that addresses projected or mistaken identities. Twang signals “you are/aren’t from around here,” but also, “we are not in a hurry to get there.”

traverses desire in all its overwhelming iterations, from interpersonal romance to enthusiasm for a certain artist/artwork, and as well as other cringe-worthy scenarios in this contemporary age. It also encapsulates the physical act of “crushing” and aesthetics that reflect a reactive quality, or materials and forms that show the artist’s hand. Crush examines the visual intensity found in “maximalist art” i.e. large-scale installations, layered and interdisciplinary compositions, enthusiastic gestures, and piling on of all kinds. It is the accumulative nature of some Southern homes as well as artists that collect and employ found objects, like Thornton Dial. Think also about reverence, retrospectives, what it means to pay homage, pen odes, and perform acts of service. Be too much. Get too close.

is about introductions, jokes, and local activism. It is going door to door and meeting face to face. Whether addressing political canvassing in this election year or trick-or-treating, the theme questions: what does it mean to be neighborly in the South? What do we owe one another? Employing matter-of-fact revelations or grappling with complex truths, Knock Knock speaks to proximity and presence. It is relational, even familial, in application. It also includes actual entrances, artistic thresholds, as well as metaphorical doors opening—and sometimes—slamming shut. Knock Knock is art that addresses architecture, “hitting the pavement,” and cul-de-sacs. It is an opportunity offered and (maybe) revoked. Who's there?

explores the South’s metaphysical nature as a living archive, existing dually as a spatiotemporal metric: a means of fluid existence and a meteorological pursuit.

address the ways in which someone or something is visually indistinguishable from its context, specifically speaking to the permeability of the Southern landscape and its inhabitants.

interrogates the experiences that construct our lives, systems of relation, and landscapes across the South.

indexes the rich tradition of large-scale world building by artists in the South as a means of exploring alternative modes living among the landscape and repurposing the refuse of industry.

engages theories of post-humanism, the agency of other species, and new perspectives that invite a reappraisal of how we value nonhuman life.

explores the organic and inorganic forces that infect our landscapes and obscure our understanding of ecosystems.

seeks to address questions of spiritual and religious faith, artistic world-building, cultural enclaves, and historical narratives.

focused on speech, dialects, multilingualism, and oral traditions across the American South, a region distinguished by the amount of attention its residents receive for the ways in which they speak.

will investigate the ways physical and digital systems, cultural intersections, and interconnected webs of information provide alternative models for understanding the South’s present, history, and future.

explores fantasies of the Southern landscape as they relate to notions of leisure, recreation, and tourism.

examines water as a natural resource and cultural reference in the South, acknowledging the geological, historical, and political importance of waterways in the region.

investigates the cultural situation of artists and residents in the rural South, parsing the fluctuating boundaries between cities, exurbs, and the rural.