Mark Lewis on Residencies, Florida, and the Future in Afterall

Mark Lewis's essay 'Afterword: Florida Arabesque' in Afterall Journal 48 reflects on artist residencies, modernity, and the future, prompted by two anniversaries: a text for a German Kunstverein and Afterall's twentieth anniversary. During a residency at the Rauschenberg Foundation in Captiva, Florida (November–December 2018), Lewis failed to write, but his daughter Olivia suggested using the experience as a frame. He describes fellow residents Ana, Joanne, Mary-Jane, and Jeremy, who were repeat residency attendees. Lewis traces the history of residencies to the Prix de Rome (1666) and the Worpswede colony (1900), where Rilke retreated from modernity. He contrasts Captiva's artificial isolation with South Florida's political decay, referencing Trayvon Martin and Stand Your Ground. Lewis connects the 1939 New York World's Fair (built on the Corona Ash Dump, Fitzgerald's 'Valley of Ashes') to E.B. White's sinus infection and Lady Macbeth's 'future in the instant.' He cites Stephen Greenblatt and T.J. Clark on present-centered politics, arguing against future-oriented illusions.