Press Release

Ever since the first hot-air balloon ascended in 1783, inflatable objects have inspired the imagination of alternative worlds. In the 19th century, aerial towns colonized the skies and floating labs surveyed the world. Flying cameras popularized the view from above. Starting in the 1930s, gigantic floats set the stage for socialist and capitalist mass parades. Along with the ideals of the generation of 1968, inflatable spaces and performances entered into architecture and tested new forms of coexistence.

 

 

International Archives 1st half of 2018

Floating Utopias

neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Berlin (Germany)

27.04 - 24.06.2018

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© ArtCatalyse International / Marika Prévosto 2018. All Rights Reserved

Floating Utopias presents the diversity of pneumatic media in an exhibition and accompanying interventions in urban space. The project juxtaposes historical and contemporary works and raises questions as to their potential for artistic and activist practices. Inflatable objects still serve as tools for aesthetic and political interventions today: artists and activists situate their works between surreality and functionality, fiction and fact. Inflatables entice us into play and disobedience, they forge communities and prompt participation, generate attention and agency.

Participating artists: Ant Farm, Artúr van Balen, Theo Botschuijver, Eventstructure Research Group, Anna Hoetjes, Franco Mazzucchelli, Ahmet Öǧüt, Marco Barotti and Plastique Fantastique, Tomás Saraceno, Anika Schwarzlose, Graham Stevens, The Yes Men, Tools for Action, Huw Wal, UFO.

 

 

Tools for Action, Inflatable barricade at Red Lines are not for crossing protest, Paris 2015. Photo: Artúr van Balen.

Exhibition April 22 - December 30, 2018. neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK) Oranienstraße 25 - 10999 Berlin (Germany). Hours: Monday–Sunday 12–7pm, Wednesday–Friday 12–8pm