Not An Alternative
Established in 2004, the collective Not An Alternative works at the intersection of art, activism, and critical theory to affect popular understandings of histories, symbols, and institutions. Their projects have taken place in museums nationally and internationally, including Guggenheim, MOMA PS1, Queens Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Tate Modern, Victoria & Albert Museum, and Museo del Arte Moderno, and their work was cited in The New York Times and ArtNet’s “Best in Art in 2015” round-ups. Not An Alternative’s latest, ongoing project is The Natural History Museum (NHM, 2014), a pop-up museum that highlights the socio-political forces that shape nature, yet are excluded from traditional natural history museums. As a “Trojan horse” strategy, NHM aims not only to critique the museum sector as it exists but also to transform it into a vital infrastructure for environmental struggle. NHM operates in a range of venues, including art museums, our mobile museum bus, major conventions for museum professionals, and within traditional natural history museums. NHM collaborates with artists, community groups, scientists, and museum professionals to create new narratives about our shared history and future, with the goal of educating the public, measurably influencing public opinion, and inspiring collective action.
Individual Bios
Image of an exhibit at the American Alliance of Museums Annual Convention.
Image of exhibition, Kwel’ Hoy: We Draw The Line, at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
Image still from Mining the HMNS.
The Natural History Museum’s mobile museum bus parked outside the Queens Museum in NYC.
Supreme Court of Red Natural History, a digital mockup of the neoclassical gallery at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh transformed into a model of the Supreme Court.
Whale People Protectors of the Sea exhibit at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville.
Video excerpts from Kwel Hoy - Totem Pole Journey Exhibition at The Carnegie Museum Of Natural History, 2018.
Teaser for Kwel Hoy': We Draw the Line, a cross-country tour, museum exhibition, and series of public programs, 2017.
Video clips of Kwel' Hoy: We Draw the Line!, 2017.
Video of Mining The HMNS: An Investigation By The Natural History Museum, 2016.
The Natural History Museum Presents: The Supreme Court of Red Natural History
Established in 2004, the collective Not An Alternative works at the intersection of art, activism, and critical theory to affect popular understandings of histories, symbols, and institutions.
MoreBeka Economopoulos is a co-founder of Not An Alternative with more than two decades of experience working as an artist, activist, community organizer, and communications strategist.
Artist BioJason Jones is the co-founder of Not An Alternative, and has worked as an art and activist organizer, curator, artist, and media producer for two decades.
Artist BioJudith LeBlanc is a member of the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma, and is a core-team member of Not An Alternative.
Artist BioThe Natural History Museum is an ongoing art intervention that unleashes the power of museums, motivating them to act not as shrines to a civilization in decline, but as agents of change. This new exhibition assembles a collective of accusers within an authoritative architecture to put natural history on trial.
Beka Economopoulos
Vashon, WA
Beka Economopoulos is a co-founder of Not An Alternative with more than 20 years of experience working as an artist, activist, community organizer, and communications strategist. Her work has been exhibited in art institutions internationally. Economopoulos was the Director of Online Organizing at Greenpeace and the Director of Strategy at Fission Strategy, where her clients included Amazon Watch, United Nations Environment Programme, Global Climate Change Alliance, and others.
Jason Jones
Vashon, WA
Jason Jones is the co-founder of Not An Alternative, and has worked as an art and activist organizer, curator, artist, and media producer for two decades. His work has been featured in museums and art institutions internationally, and in the context of activist mobilizations. Jones received his BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and is an MFA candidate at the Vermont College of Fine Art. He is a graduate of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
Judith LeBlanc
New York, NY
Judith LeBlanc is a member of the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma, and is a core-team member of Not An Alternative. She also serves as Director of the Native Organizers Alliance, a national Native organizing network which provides Native organizers, tribal governments, and nonprofits with training and support for strategic campaign planning and community engagement based on Indigenous values and practices. LeBlanc has been a media producer and correspondent with the Laura Flanders Show, Democracy Now!, and several PBS films.