The Monophobic Response presents a two-channel film installation that reimagines a pivotal 1936 rocket engine test in Pasadena, California that helped launch the US space program. Rather than simply reenacting this historical moment, American Artist uses it as a starting point to explore contemporary desires to abandon Earth, drawing inspiration from Octavia E. Butler's 1993 novel Parable of the Sower. The film stars a group of artists, scholars, and engineers portraying Butler's protagonists and was shot in the Mojave Desert during an actual firing of a replica of the 1936 rocket test engine. Through this speculative lens, the film asks: Can our cosmic ambitions transcend the colonial logics of extraction and conquest, or are we bound to carry Earth's destructive patterns to other worlds?
Butler's novel follows Lauren Olamina as she develops the Earthseed religion—a belief system that places change at the center of existence and envisions humanity's destiny among the stars. Crucially, this isn't just about escaping a dying planet. Earthseed imagines survival built on mutual aid, environmental understanding, and spiritual growth in the present rather than promises of salvation in an afterlife. Against this backdrop, Artist's film poses a critical question: When we look to space travel today, are we following Earthseed's path of adaptation and evolution, or will we export strip-mining and colonization across the galaxy?
The film's title references Butler's 1995 essay "The Monophobic Response," which examines humanity's relationship with difference and conformity. While Science Fiction often fantasizes about encountering alien life, Butler argues that society has trouble accepting the "alien" within, or people whose experiences and backgrounds differ from the majority. Butler then considers how historical global divisions based on race, gender, and other differences might be overcome if humanity were forced to unite against actual extraterrestrials. This leaves readers with an unsettling question: If unity requires an external threat, what does that reveal about our capacity for genuine human connection?
The Monophobic Response forms part of American Artist's multi-year project Shaper of God which explores the intersections between Butler's life and work, the history of Southern California, and the Second Great Migration. This migration saw approximately 5 million African Americans move from the rural US South to cities in the North, West, and Midwest USA from roughly 1940 to 1970, seeking new opportunities created by industrialization while fleeing racial oppression. Through this historical framework, American Artist examines Altadena and the adjacent city of Pasadena—communities northeast of Los Angeles where both Butler and Artist grew up—to ask why these places have produced so many influential Black creators.
Building on Butler's literary legacy, Shape the Echo, a living library celebrating sci-fi author Octavia E. Butler, runs concurrently with the exhibition in an adjacent gallery. This purpose-built space features a selection of books by Black, diasporic, and Global South authors exploring survival, transformation, resistance, and speculative futures.
After The Monophobic Response closes at Kunsthall Trondheim, the library will relocate to Trondheim City Library.
The Monophobic Response is curated by Adam Kleinman and Joe Rowley.
Shape the Echo is curated by Tendai Angela Jambga-Rokkones with input from American Artist and Adam Kleinman.