OUTSIDE THE BOX

Outside the Box Collective was founded by curators Neda Omidvar and Julius Poncelet Manapul as a launching point for the group exhibition, “Unsettled: Transcultural Experiences”. The collective aims to serve as a creative hub for thinking outside the strict rules and confines of how creative bodies of work are represented. We aim to create a platform for underrepresented artists outside the normative art scene, and celebrate the creativity of a diverse group of artists, regardless of colour, gender, and cultural identity.

The title of this collective comes from a playful and unabashed act of giving agency back to creators that do not seem to fit in the box of commercialized, commoditized, and restrictive ideologies of art representations. This collective dares to confront conservative perspectives and the rigid mentalities found across our patriarchal pedagogies. New knowledge and new perspective is our mandate; to provide a platform that amplifies the voices of the traditionally silenced.

We look at the gallery space, or the white cube, and turn it inside out of its common use to find new ways of creating platforms for creative work. From online shows, pop-ups, interactive spaces, and unexpected spaces where viewers may experience the
creative body of work in its immersive form, we aim to push the original boundaries of the white cube space by dismantling expectations and inviting the viewer into a realm of new perspectives.

This collective’s purpose is also to highlight artists and creators outside the fringes and support people of colour, the LGBTQIA2S+ communities, migrants, outsiders, and nomadic diasporic communities.

We believe that great ideas are not bound to one medium, one language, one culture, one belief, or one mentality. Great art exists outside the box of our expectations, unbound beyond one’s experience of understanding. Our aim is to foster an environment that is more equitable and inclusive for all creative minds.