The Puritan ethic of godliness. Duty as a moral imperative. Pleasure as a slippery slope. These are the I-beams of America, a new world that brought a lot of Old World baggage to Plymouth Rock. Curated by the filmmaker and publisher Jodi Wille, the exhibition Utopia reminds us that sexuality in America was not just the purview of the church. For three centuries, cults and communes have had their own ideas. We’re talking groups like the Shakers, the Cockettes, the Source, the Oneida Community, and Rajneesh/Osho. With more than 300 rare artifacts, artworks, films, and archival materials, it’s the first exhibition of its kind. The promise of transcendence, it turns out, is also a slippery slope. —Carolina de Armas