Science Fictions

SCIENCE FICTIONS, curated by Lauren Ross

Science Fictions presents work by emerging artists which explores the ambiguities of our knowledge of outer space. Our vision of the parts of the universe we cannot see is based on equal parts popular culture, collective memory, fantasy and reality. The line between truth and fiction is tenuous when books, TV, and movie plots are based on the “real theories” of physicists and astronomers. While the technology that fuels galactic exploration is highly developed, our knowledge of the universe remains extremely limited. Images from the Cold War space race and moon landing continue to influence the way we envision space travel, despite representing technologies which are outmoded in our rapidly accelerating era.

Yorgo Alexopoulos presents the control panel from a spaceship, along with photographs based on a theory that another planet called Niburu exists in our solar system; Claire Jervert photographs unidentified flying objects off of television; Jesse Bransford draws worlds based on sources ranging from Star Trek and its devotees to millennial anxiety and the occult; Christopher L. Johnson paints sightings of alien space ships within the American landscape; Jenna Spevack presents sculpture based on her vision of the dark matter that composes up to 90% of the universe, as well as drawings investigating the existence of parallel universes; Adam Ross’s drawings of otherworldly landscapes offer a vision of the future and explore the relationship between modernism and science fiction; Kara Hammond depicts in drawings and paintings actual crafts built by NASA for space travel and astronaut training; Stephen Antonson presents a video projection imagining the surface of another planet as taken by a space probe.