FALSE CITY is an exhibition that challenges how we see, remember, and mythologize the built environment. Taking its name from the Latin Falsum Urbis, meaning “False City,” the show interrogates how urban ruins are less about what remains and more about what is constructed—materially, ideologically, and emotionally. These are not passive remnants of a forgotten past, but curated relics—sculpted symbols of preservation and power. Rather than confront collapse, such sites often pacify it, glossing over violence, exclusion, and exploitation with the sheen of nostalgia.
This exhibition brings together sixteen contemporary artists whose works resist the illusion of permanence. They do not seek to restore or revere; they aim to reveal. They dismantle the mythic architectures of empire, consumer culture, memory, and identity to propose new ways of seeing, remembering, and inhabiting the city.
Artists: Mahsa Attaran, Lauren Be Dear, Bethani Blake, Peter Riggs Brown, Jennifer Burbank, Christian Crowley, Enrique Figueredo, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, Timothy Andrew Kussow, Adam Niklewicz, Galeria Rusz (Joanna Górska and Rafał Góralski), Anna Schwartz, Julie Wakefield, Paco Winebox, and Christa Whitten.
555 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT
Exhibition Dates: July 11 – 25, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, July 11, 6–9 PM
Curated by John O’Donnell
This exhibition brings together sixteen contemporary artists whose works resist the illusion of permanence. They do not seek to restore or revere; they aim to reveal. They dismantle the mythic architectures of empire, consumer culture, memory, and identity to propose new ways of seeing, remembering, and inhabiting the city.
Artists: Mahsa Attaran, Lauren Be Dear, Bethani Blake, Peter Riggs Brown, Jennifer Burbank, Christian Crowley, Enrique Figueredo, Monica Hamilton, Hanieh Kashani, Timothy Andrew Kussow, Adam Niklewicz, Galeria Rusz (Joanna Górska and Rafał Góralski), Anna Schwartz, Julie Wakefield, Paco Winebox, and Christa Whitten.
555 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT
Exhibition Dates: July 11 – 25, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, July 11, 6–9 PM
Curated by John O’Donnell
