Pratt Manhattan Gallery’s current exhibition poses a straightforward question: what is the relationship between human bodies and non-human objects? Titled Like everything alive that we try to hold forever, the show features work by seven artists from around the world. It runs from September 25 through December 19, 2026, and admission is free for all visitors.
On Thursday, September 24, from 6 to 8pm, Pratt Manhattan Gallery is holding a public reception. Its address is 144 West 14th Street, New York, NY. The reception gives viewers a first look at the show before it opens officially.
The Artists Behind the Show
The exhibition brings together artists from North America and the United Kingdom. Larry Achiampong & David Blandy work in Brighton/London, United Kingdom. Diane Borsato is from Guelph, Canada. Stephanie Dinkins is from Brooklyn, NY. Bridget Moser comes from Toronto, Canada. Sondra Perry is from Perth Amboy, NJ. Miya Turnbull is from Halifax, Canada.
The relationship between human bodies and non-human objects is approached in a variety of ways by different artists. Some focus on the inside, examining identity, likeness, and self-authorship. Others look outward, addressing the biases and harms that are often built into systems and collections under the cover of neutrality.
What the Curators Say
Elizabeth Diggon, Naomi Potter, and Shauna Thompson are the people who put the show together. The curators themselves say that the works “address our psychosocial relationships to materiality.” They explain that the exhibition “draws parallels between…realities, presenting objects and avatars as channels that access the limits of human experience, push against it, or gesture toward a transhuman future.”
The show is a traveling exhibition produced by Independent Curators International (ICI). It was originally presented in 2023 at Esker Foundation in Calgary, Canada, and has since traveled to the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts.
What the Show Covers
The exhibition brings together photography, sculpture, and video, and it begins to work through the many issues that come with being human. It draws parallels between the legacy of archaeology, colonialism, the potential of AI, digital technologies, and the ever-blurring line between the self and the other.
The artists are investigating how we gather, acquire, and give meaning to objects. The exhibition is a gathering of distinct methods, each one raising a different query about what the things we keep around us reveal about us.
The Reception Date
On September 24, a public reception will let viewers get a first look at the show before it opens officially. The gallery’s address is 144 West 14th Street, New York, NY.
The gallery opens its doors at 6 in the evening and closes at 8pm. Admission is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend. The exhibition runs for three months, from September 25 through December 19, 2026.
What the Curators Hope to Show
The curators aim to illustrate the interconnected nature of our relationships with material objects. They wish to draw comparisons between archaeology and colonialism, between AI and digital technologies, and between the self and the other. They want to demonstrate that the systems we employ to define and comprehend the world carry biases. These systems are not impartial. They are harmful.
The show seeks to thread the complex reality of the human experience. It asks us to look at the things we surround ourselves with and ask what they are doing to us. It asks us to look at the systems we use to define ourselves and ask what they are doing to us.
The curators themselves say that the works “address our psychosocial relationships to materiality.” They explain that the exhibition “draws parallels between…realities, presenting objects and avatars as channels that access the limits of human experience, push against it, or gesture toward a transhuman future.” These are the exact words of the people who put the show together.
The Artists’ Focus
The artists begin from different vantage points. A few examine identity, likeness, and self-authorship from within. The rest take up the part played by imposed knowledge systems in deciding what counts as human and what does not, laying bare the biases and harms often lodged within those systems under the cover of neutrality.
The show makes comparisons between the work of archaeology, the legacy of colonial rule, the power of AI, digital technologies, and the constantly dissolving boundary between the self and the other.
Key Facts
- Exhibition: Like everything alive that we try to hold forever
- Curators: Elizabeth Diggon, Naomi Potter, and Shauna Thompson
- Artists: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy (Brighton/London, United Kingdom); Diane Borsato (Guelph, Canada); Stephanie Dinkins (Brooklyn, NY); Bridget Moser (Toronto, Canada); Sondra Perry (Perth Amboy, NJ); Miya Turnbull (Halifax, Canada)
- Original presentation: Esker Foundation, Calgary, Canada (2023)
- Produced by: Independent Curators International (ICI)
- Previous venue: Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts
- New York debut: Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 West 14th Street, New York, NY
- Dates: September 25 – December 19, 2026
- Reception: September 24, 6-8pm
- Admission: Free and open to the public
The exhibition offers viewers a look at how seven artists from around the world understand the complex reality of the human experience, and how the line between the self and the other is ever-blurring.
This is a serious production, though it is also a complicated one. It takes a simple premise and builds it into a wide-ranging examination of identity, colonialism, and AI. The result is a show that delivers something far bigger than its title would suggest.
The exhibition is on view at Pratt Manhattan Gallery from September 25 through December 19, 2026. The reception is on September 24, from 6-8pm. Pratt Manhattan Gallery is located at 144 West 14th Street, New York, NY.
The public is welcome to attend without charge, and doing so comes highly recommended.
Source material: “New Show at Pratt Manhattan Gallery Explores How Human Bodies Exist with Non-Human Objects,” Hyperallergic.
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