The Third Coast Biennial is a national juried contemporary art exhibition hosted in odd-numbered years at K Space Contemporary in Corpus Christi, Texas. The show is curated from open call submissions by a guest juror, and thus the exhibition always offers a unique slice of the art world.

This year’s juror, Leandra Urrutia, shaped the exhibition around the concept of hybridization. She describes it as “a collision and fusion of images, processes, materials, ideas, and experiences that create compelling compositions.” I couldn’t agree more. The selected artworks inhabit multiple forms simultaneously, clashing and fusing, or splintering and evolving apart.

I think that the concept of fusion and evolution is a way that artists react to metamorphic times. As our world has grown increasingly uncertain — politically, environmentally, and socially — I’ve found that artists and writers create work that is either optimistic or pessimistic about the future. Do they think humans will survive by adapting to the new normal, or will they struggle, barely hanging on to outdated ways of thinking? Most of the works in this year’s exhibition lean toward the former: they approach survival through the lens of human resiliency, whether to a shifting ecosystem or to the accelerating realities of the digital age.

-excerpt from Glasstire

by Elena Rodz September 8, 2025