Outer space is not only a physically extending sphere, but also a symbol. For centuries, man’s dreams and visions have been concerned with conquering the “extraterrestrial zone,” with getting to know worlds beyond Earth, and even with colonizing other planets. “Space is the Place,” proclaimed the musician Sun Ra, and thousands of science fiction novels and movies testify to this yearning for the other, for the unknown, the “high frontier” that became a scene of geostrategic position fights. Both the United States of America and the Soviet Union have invested tremendous amounts to secure their dominance in space. The first manned space flight with the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961 was a key feat in this respect – and its fiftieth anniversary as a special occasion for this exhibition.
Assembling fifty artists’ positions from fifty years, the show reflects the aesthetic, metaphoric and political dimensions connected with the idea of outer space. Works in a wide variety of media – painting, drawing, film, photography, graphic art, and multimedia installation – explore the question which aesthetic and sociopolitical utopias the notion of space is still able to unleash today.
Artists:
Pawel Althamer, Eric Andersen, Julieta Aranda, Artsat, Angela Bulloch, Björn Dahlem, Vladimir Dubossarsky & Alexander Vinogradov, Charles and Ray Eames, Sylvie Fleury, Agnes Fuchs, Daniel & Geo Fuchs, Loris Gréaud, Judith Hopf, Dona Jalufka, Toril Johannessen, William Kentridge, Lena Lapschina, Simone Leigh, Jen Liu, Basim Magdy, Mahony, Aleksandra Mir, Jyoti Mistry, monochrom, Mariko Mori, Gianni Motti, Deimantas Narkevi
ius, Katie Paterson, Simon Patterson, Amalia Pica, Christian Pußwald, Robert Rauschenberg, Pipilotti Rist, Thomas Ruff, Tom Sachs, Wilhelm Sasnal, Charles Schmidt, Michael Snow, Andrei Sokolov, Hildegard Spielhofer, Eve Sussman & Rufus Corporation, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Keith Tyson, Christian Waldvogel, Andy Warhol, Orson Welles, Nives Widauer, Jane & Louise Wilson, Virginie Yassef, Carey Young.
At Kunsthalle Vienna
Opening March 31, 2011; Exhibition: April 1 thru August 15, 2011.