Not An Alternative (2003-) is a collective that works at the intersection of art, activism, and critical theory, with a mission to affect popular understandings of history, symbols, and institutions. Through engaged research and design, the group curates and produces interventions on material and immaterial space, bringing together tools from art, architecture, exhibition design, and community organizing.
The group’s ongoing project ‘The Natural History Museum’ (NHM, 2014-) takes the form of a traveling, pop-up “museum for the movement”. NHM collaborates with artists, curators, community groups, scientists, and scholars to create new narratives about our shared
history and future, with the goal of educating the public, measurably influencing public opinion, and inspiring collective action.
Not An Alternative’s work has been featured in museums and galleries around the world, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Queens Museum, Guggenheim, PS1/MOMA, Carnegie Museums of Art & Natural History, Brooklyn Museum, Tate Modern, Victoria & Albert Museum, MOCAD, Museo del Arte Moderno, Florida Museum of Natural History, California Academy of Sciences, Project Row Houses, Tamástslikt Cultural Institute, and in the public sphere, where they collaborate with activists and community groups.
—We Refuse to Die, "Unsettling Matter, Gaining Ground", curated by Theodossis Issaias and Ala Tannir, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
—"Flood Tides of Resistance", curated by Oliver Ressler, NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol
—"Overground Resistance", curated by Oliver Ressler, CAC Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Quito, Quito
—Whale People: Protectors of the Sea, University of Oregon, Eugene; Tamastslikt Cultural Institute at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; and Stommish Grounds, Lummi Nation
—Spirit of the Waters traveling exhibit and community event series, Co-produced with Se’Si’Le and House of Tears Carvers
—Red Road to DC: A Totem Pole Journey for the Protection of Sacred Places, a cross-country journey, traveling exhibit, multi-media production, and community event series co-produced with Native Organizers Alliance and House of Tears Carvers, online and on tribal lands in Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, and Washington D.C.
—"Hlk’yak’ii: To Start A Fire", Haida Gwaii Museum, Haida Nation, BC, Canada
—Kwel' Hoy: We Draw The Line, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington D.C.
—Whale People: Outdoor Exhibition and IMAX-style Film Projection at Lummi Nation
—"Like the Waters We Rise: Climate Justice in Print", Interference Archive + Nathan Cummings Foundation Gallery, NY
—"Offsetted", curated by Cooking Sections, Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery, Columbia University, NY
—Whale People: Protectors of the Sea, Co-Created with Lummi Nation, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville
—"The Idea of the Avant Garde", curated by Marc James Leger, NeMe Arts Centre, Cyprus
—Kwel Hoy': Many Struggles, One Front, Co-Created with Lummi Nation, Watershed Center, Princeton
—Kwel Hoy': We Draw The Line, co-created with Lummi Nation, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh
—The Museum of the Future, "Hold These Truths" curated by No Longer Empty at Nathan Cummings Foundation
—The Natural History Museum, American Alliance of Museums Convention, Washington D.C.
—"Agitprop!", Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn
—Mining the HMNS, Project Row Houses, Houston
—The Natural History Museum, Association of Science and Technology Centers Convention, Montreal
—The Natural History Museum, American Alliance of Museums Annual Convention, Atlanta
—The Museum of the Future, "Eyebeam Showcase", Gallery 216, Brooklyn
—"This Changes Everything", Foundry Theatre, NY
—The Natural History Museum Grand Opening, Queens Museum of Art, NY
—"Disobedient Objects", Victoria & Albert Museum, London
—"Art or Sound", Fondazione Prada - Ca' Corner Della Regina, Venice
—"Beyond Zuccotti Park", Sao Paulo Architecture Biennial, Sao Paulo
—"From Zuccotti to Taksim: Negotiating the Right to the City through Public Space", Hazel & Robert Siegel Gallery, Pratt University, Brooklyn
—Occupy Their Desire, "Our Haus", Austrian Cultural Forum, NY
—Occupied Real Estate, "Collective/Performance", Exit Art, NY
—"Occupy Everything", Stadtmuseum Graz, Austria
—"Alternative Histories", Exit Art, NY
—Tomorrow is Another Day (After the Economic Crisis), "No Soul for Sale", Tate Modern, London
—"The City From Below", Baltimore and NY
—The Subsumption Machine, "Mixer: Expo", Eyebeam, NY
—Not An Alternative Presents, X Initiative, NY
—"Friendly Fire", NY Art Book Fair, Printed Matter, NY
—"Festival Break 2.4: Potempkin Village", International Festival of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
—"When Artists Say We", Artists Space, NY
—Traverse the Fantasy, "Art in the Contested City", Higgins Gallery, Pratt University, Brooklyn
—"Majority Whipped, Majority Whip", White Box, NY
A Blade of Grass
Puffin Foundation
Chorus Foundation
Eyebeam Center for Art & Technology
Voqal Fund
Brooklyn Arts Council
Overbrook Foundation
Horton Foundation Fund
Compton Foundation
Benoona Fund of RSF Social Finance
Andy Warhol Foundation
The New York Community Trust
Solidaire
Argosy Foundation
Wallace Global Fund
LUSH Charity Pot
Patagonia Foundation
Invoking The Pause
Heinz Foundation
Beespace NYC
Hewlett Foundation
Scintilla Foundation
4Culture
ArtsFund
Canada Council for the Arts
Carmack Collective
Creative Capital
Creative Change
CrossCurrents Foundation
David Rockefeller Fund
Nathan Cummings Foundation
National Geographic Foundation
Native Arts & Cultures Foundation
New York Community Trust
Park Foundation
Resource Legacy Fund
Vadon Foundation
Water Foundation