If-When
October 3, 2026 - November 21, 2026
Opening Reception
Thursday, October 8th, 6-9pm
"Print & Play" Zinemaking Workshop with Amze Emmons @ Second State Press
Saturday, October 10 4-7pm [Free! - RSVP]
Book Launch
Thursday, November 12th, 6-9pm
As a part of the city-wide festival Collective Futures, AUTOMAT is proud to announce If-When, a special invitational exhibition featuring the work of Amze Emmons, Rami George, Alicia Link, and Qiaira Riley
A question was posed to fifteen artists nominated by our broader community: What do you envision for the future of Philadelphia, and how do you imagine we might evolve to support or challenge that future? From many excellent proposals, four artists were selected. Amze Emmons, Rami George, Alicia Link, and Qiaira Riley respond with bold new works that focus on community and calls to action, on view at AUTOMAT October 3 through November 21, 2026.
Alongside the exhibition, AUTOMAT will release If-When: The Art of the Proposal, a publication exploring proposals as a plan, a means of navigating power, and a signpost for possible futures.
Curated for AUTOMAT by Brynn Hurlstone and Addison Namnoum
Amze Emmons is a Philadelphia-based, multidisciplinary artist with a background in drawing and printmaking. His research interests include walking and noticing; the politics of architecture; vernacular design; everyday evidence of community; games, play, and generative systems; and tracking the ways Print and Material Cultural history inform our current digital age. He is currently an Associate Professor and Printmaking Program Head at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Rami George is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Lenapehoking in what is now called Philadelphia. They have exhibited and screened broadly and remain motivated by political struggles and fractured narratives.
Alicia Link is a multidisciplinary visual artist, educator, and arts writer whose work interrogates systems that restrict and limit our agency and understanding of our bodies. Rooted in object-making, painting, and performance strategies, her practice privileges material experimentation and process as a means of engaging with embodied memory, labor, and the politics of value—both personal and cultural.
Qiaira Riley is an interdisciplinary artist + educator + cultural worker, raised on Chicago’s south-side and currently based in Los Angeles,California. She holds a dual BA in Black Studies and Studio Art from Lake Forest College, as well as a MFA in Socially Engaged Studio Art from Moore College of Art & Design. During the eight years she lived in Philadelphia, she had collaborations with and awards from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fleisher Art Memorial, the Barnes Foundation, Mural Arts, the Friends of the Tanner House and the Leeway Foundation. She also co-founded and co-curated 2.0, a West Philadelphia-based collective collaborating with artists and organizations to curate free, experimental offerings for Black women and femmes. Qiaira is currently a PhD student in the University of Delaware’s Art History Department. She explores historic Black American domestic interiors and house museums.