"forms of the surrounding futures" mark the 12th edition of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, GIBCA. The biennial, featuring Joana da Conceição and curated by João Laia, takes place between September 16 to November 19, 2023, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

We are inhabiting a period of abrupt change recently defined as permacrisis. In Western thought, such moments have regularly correlated with a failure to imagine multiple configurations for tomorrow. However, this is not the only prospect available.

"forms of the surrounding futures" adopt queer as an expanded perspective to challenge dominant narratives, replacing them by a broad rethinking and remaking of bodies, spaces and times. By embracing different agencies in a nonconforming affinity, they question the constructed features of the present and promote the emergence of various futures.

"forms of the surrounding futures" propose cognitive, emotional and sensual forms of engagement, materialising communal moments of othering and estrangement. Projecting a polyphonic and multi-sensorial set of positions, they celebrate and empower our collective ability to imagine and rehearse worlds to come.