".. a conversation between artists concerning notions of scientific discovery, space, the past and the nostalgic future ..
There is a natural want for humankind to believe that it has both a place and a future in the future. This exhibition considers impending possibilities, the colonisation of other worlds, time travel, Utopianism, free will, innocence, idealism and fatalism … dystopia, the entropic exhaustion of a dying earth; the marking of the end of time .." SW
The Cruiser network of ‘artists who travel hopefully’ is exploring nostalgic futures in its next quarterly review. The group inherited the idea of the quarterly review from Oldknows Studio Group, from which Cruiser emerged, earlier this year. The last two quarterly reviews, Memory + Migration and Cold War, already touched upon some of the ideas that will be expanded in ‘ I can see your house from here’Simon Withers delves into the profound aesthetics of space in his work ‘Blueprint for no tomorrow’ .. both Simon and Yelena Popova have been exploring science and science fiction for quite some time; indeed, astronomy and Modernism’s romantic attachment to the idea of scientific progress and the space race is central to Popova’s practice. In addition, Saira Lloyd’s work is informed by her background in genetic science and Chris Lewis-Jones was commissioned to design and direct a performance in Chelmsford, Essex, earlier this year, to mark the unveiling of Irene Rogan’s Deep Space light installation (as part of the Year of Astronomy Festival). Kevin Wallace will be reading in a West Scottish dialect from a piece he has written called, ‘Hame’.
I can see your house from here brings together an incendiary salvo of stellar artists from Pakistan, Canada, Germany, Holland, the USA, Russia and Nottingham, who will ’boldly go’ where few artists have gone before, seeking out new art forms, making new links… between art and science, the old world and the new, Earth and Space, space and time, modernism, postmodernism and altermodernism ..As with Cold War and Memory + Migration, Cruiser is tapping into the zeitgeist. I can see your house from here represents a reappraisal of the cynicism of the contemporary with regard to the vision of modernism, that is evident in many cultural discourses and contexts today, especially within Eastern Europe, and coincides with Nottingham Contemporary’s Star City exhibition in 2010. (Simon Withers)
Cruiser artists are:
Chris Lewis-Jones / Simon Withers / Yelena Popova / Saira Lloyd / Fabrice Arfi / John Fanning / Kevin Wallace / Gareth Jordan / Felix Liebig / Brian Robinson / Wayne Thexton / Maria Kapajeva / Marsha Magda.
Exhibition PV: Saturday 27th February 2010 (1pm – 4pm)Exhibition Dates: February 27th 2010 – March 19th 2010*
*By appointment
Venue: Actual Wall
Address: 3rd Floor Oldknows Factory Building, St Anns Hill Road, Nottingham. NG3 4GP
Visit: http://www.travellinghopefully.weebly.com/
Cruiser’s ‘Memory + Migration’ (revisited) is at Deda in Derby throughout February and March 2010.
