Future Retrieval, founded by Guy Michael Davis and Katie Parker in 2008, re-examines and disrupts the history of decorative arts through the excavation and empirical study of digital archives and museum collections.

Taking objects held in institutional collections as our starting point, we investigate global patterns of transmission and dislocation across cultures and times, both with respect to an object’s iconography, materiality, and utility, and concerning its eventual path to the archive or museum collection. Our collective uses contemporary methodologies and approaches to work across many mediums, including sculpture, textiles, wallpaper, installation and video. These pieces speak to the wonders of the past while simultaneously addressing imbalances of art history that too-often neglect so-called decorative or minor arts. Through objects that may initially appear functional in form, we reconsider the tensions among contemporary art, craft, and design, subtly yet critically subverting the implied hierarchies among these fields.

Bio

Future Retrieval’s Davis and Parker currently reside in Scottsdale, Arizona where Parker is a Professor in the School of Art at Arizona State University. Their most recent solo exhibitions include Underground World Experience at DE SARTHE (AZ) in 2026, Crystal-Walled Seas at Denny Gallery (NY) in 2022 and Close Parallel at the Cincinnati Art Museum (OH) in 2021. Future Retrieval’s work is held in numerous collections such as Arizona State University Ceramics Research Center (AZ), Cincinnati Art Museum (OH), 21C Museum/Hotel (NC), Society of Dresden Porcelain Art (Germany), and Jingdezhen International Studio (China). They have exhibited both nationally and internationally and received prestigious awards and residencies such as the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, IASPIS, and Bemis Center Arts Residency. Their work has been reviewed and featured in Artforum, Vogue, Sculpture Magazine, AEQAI, Los Angeles Times, and Hyperallergic. Davis and Parker both received their MFA from The Ohio State University and BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute.