PrintStar City - The future under communism
Pawel Althamer, Common Task, 2009, photo courtesy of Open Art Projects
13 Feb 2010 - 17 Apr 2010
Nottingham Contemporary
Weekday Cross
Nottingham, NG1
www.nottinghamcontemporary.org
This major – and unprecedented - exhibition is inspired by the space race
and science fiction under Cold War Communism. It features the work of a generation of leading artists who grew up in Soviet dominated countries before the collapse of Communism. Their work is inspired by the Space Race, the technology of the 60s and 70s – and by the sci-fi stories that were then a metaphor for both progress and escape. They include Pawel Althamer, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov and Aleksandra Mir.
The exhibition will feature Malinowska and Tomaszewski’s huge sculpture of a female cosmonaut that will fill The Space at the centre of our building. Revolving doors will allow visitors to walk around inside her. A beautiful futuristic glass cinema will show Deimantas Naarkevicius’s alternative ending to Tarkovsky’s Solaris, a classic of sci-fi cinema.
Real objects from the Space Race include Soviet propaganda posters, sci-fi toys and a full size Sputnik replica. The exhibition is a major contribution to Polska! Year, the Year of Polish Culture. It is curated by Alex Farquharson, Director of Nottingham Contemporary, and Lukasz Ronduda, Curator at CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw, where the exhibition will also be held.