EMERGE

The Change Issue
2023

​Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

— Arundhati Roy

This issue of emerge is focused on change. We clung on to the word breathing for guidance, partly inspired by Franco Berardi’s ideas on how the breath can stimulate a new path for a society who is no longer in tune with its biological rhythms. If inspiration is another word for breath, how can we breathe together, how can we co-inspire?

To ground change, transmutation, metamorphosis, and transubstantiation in arts administration, this issue focuses on creative leaders who are working with improvisational practices, using their intuition, encouraging flexibility, and growing from neoliberal and patriarchal paradigms. The contributions populating these pages are the result of an open call to students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) for creative work related to change, improvisation, and co-inspiration. Take this issue, read her out loud, skim, read her quietly, take notes, draw, and send to a friend.

Cover image: Ruotong Guan, Untitled#2, Home/Almost Home, 2019, Inkjet print