One of the biggest group shows of the year isn’t at a museum—Converging Trajectories: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges, curated by Ted Decker, opens tonight at Modified Arts. Decker wrote a story about the show for Hearsight Magazine:

“Converging Trajectories: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges” is an invitational group exhibition of works by 42 artists I have encountered through travel and ongoing research. Each is on a personal trajectory in pursuing a career as a visual artist. With the curator, there is an intersection of paths that marks a moment in our histories. With their participation in this exhibit, the artists become connected with one another and with viewers from the Phoenix area and elsewhere who visit Modified Arts during the exhibition. Most of the artists are from Arizona and Brazil with others from Brooklyn, Buenos Aires, Charlotte, Chicago, Mexico City, and San Francisco. The vast majority of the artists started producing work during the past 10-15 years in times of rapid technological advancement, increasing globalization albeit polarization, and the end and beginning of centuries and millennia. Of the 42 artists in the exhibition, 21 are currently based in Brazil making this the most ambitious showing of contemporary art in Phoenix and the Southwestern United States from Brazil, recently described as the “most exciting country on Earth” in the June 2010 issue of the U.K.-based Wallpaper magazine.

[…]

The art and exhibition concept are more relevant than ever in Arizona and the United States through the lenses of globalization, shifting populations, economic volatility, and human rights and dignity. The artworks are as diverse in content as in the origins and experiences of the artists who made them. Yet unbelievably the art is able to make its way to Phoenix more easily than many of the art makers. This is especially true of those living in the Americas to the south of us.

Read more here.