Collection: Transdimensional Multiversal Nonlinear Cosmic Traveler

Interact is pleased to present the first solo exhibition by Michael Engebretson, whose expansive drawings, paintings, and ceramics describe an extraterrestrial utopia.

March 1 — April 14, 2023 | Interact Gallery

Transdimensional Multiversal Nonlinear Cosmic Traveler transforms Interact Gallery into a metaphorical spaceship, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in Engebretson's visionary landscape. Neurodiversity, sustainability, and better healthcare are celebrated in his hyper-detailed, graphic, technicolor works. The space vessels that Engebretson draws — and the ideology they represent — are the vehicles of a more equitable time and place. He offers these images not as speculative fiction, but kismet. Engebretson works ardently and without hesitation, transcribing a singular future.

This exhibition is now closed, but you can find available work below.

About the exhibition

Exhibition Statement

Transdimensional Multiversal Nonlinear Cosmic Traveler is an opportunity to have everybody in the community see what it’s like to be me. I want the public to see what it’s like for somebody to have Autism like me and to see what it’s like to be able to travel to higher dimensions. My work is about what I call a Class Five civilization. Class Five inhabitants are transdimensional, multiversal, nonlinear space-time continuum thinkers. They are more free thinking than we are. They are open minded to any possibility, any idea, any conversation, any scenario. They have better health care and economics and special support systems that can help them out. They can help human/alien hybrids and cyborgs and robots with disabilities with specialized psychological and biological care that is designed for them.

This exhibition is like something from outer space and time, and like you’re on board a huge space vessel. The space vessels that Class 5 beings travel in may be hyper giant spaceship construction yards, drop ships, escape pods, fighter ships, hyper giant space mining rigs, hyper giant space super stations, hyper giant space battle stations, hyper giant space dreadnought transport carriers, asteroid bases, and every different type of ship and vessel. The gallery is like a spaceship. In these drawings, paintings, and ceramics, you can see all different corridors, cosmic nutrition services, docking systems, engineering, environmental services, cargo holds, command bridge sectors, resupply bases, supply bases, and turbo lifts (like elevators). And every sector of the ship.

I want people to see how my brain operates within higher dimensions, and what it’s like to be on those higher dimensions. Being a visual artist at Interact allows me to express myself in a way that I usually cannot do around certain people that refuse to understand my ideas. They don’t understand me and the way my brain is wired. Some people wish my ideas were nonexistent, but the thing is, my show might help them understand what it’s like to have Autism or other disabilities. With my Autism, I can see things that neurotypical people don’t see in society, like what the future might hold for the future of humanity.

Michael Engebretson

Artist Biography

Michael Engebretson (b. 1994) has practiced at Interact since 2016, but he was filling the pages of notebooks with futuristic scenes and building spaceships with K’Nex and Legos from an early age. Science fiction movies like Star Trek and Star Wars, books on wormholes and celestial bodies, and schematics related to the multiverse are some of his longest held aesthetic interests. Engebretson is keenly perceptive. He notices the intricacies of the natural world, like the buzzing of hummingbird wings and the fractals made by trees. He is deeply moved by animals – toads are some of his favorites.

Engebretson identifies as Autistic and is an avid disability advocate. He uses his art practice to propose a future in which all beings, whether humans or aliens, animals or cyborgs, are treated with respect. In 2022, he was the inaugural artist in residence at Interact Gallery. He has presented work at Art Enables (Washington, D.C.), Make Studio (Baltimore, MD), Gamut Gallery (Minneapolis, MN) and Interact Gallery. In 2021, Engebretson was a key contributing artist and performer in Zoomtopia, Interact’s first virtual theater production and its companion exhibition.

To view all of Michael Engebretson's available work, visit his collection here.