Event: Martian Museum Of Terrestrial Art
Barbican Centre
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General |
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| Title | Martian Museum Of Terrestrial Art |
| Type of event | Exhibition |
| Dates | 06 March 2008 - 18 May 2008 |
| Description | Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art presents contemporary art as if shown in a fictional museum conceived by and designed for extraterrestrials. This ambitious, playful and irreverent exhibition transforms the Barbican Art Gallery into an imaginary museum, with a mission to interpret and understand contemporary art. It features around 150 works — primarily sculpture as well as mixed media, video, photography and works on paper — by over 80 established and emerging artists, from the 1960s until now. They include Joseph Beuys, Jimmie Durham, Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, Brian Jungen, Louise Lawler, Piero Manzoni, Bruce Nauman, Mike Nelson, Cornelia Parker, Haim Steinbach, Jeffrey Vallance, Gillian Wearing, Andy Warhol and Rebecca Warren . The exhibition opens to the public on 6 March 2008. The project is in part inspired by the first chapter of Kant after Duchamp by Belgian art historian Thierry de Duve, in which an imaginary anthropologist from outer space sets out to inventory ‘all that is called art by humans’. Since Martians do not have art as a defined category in their culture, they classify and interpret their chosen objects without the ‘knowledge’ we know as art history. Instead, they treat works of art as artefacts: objects which serve a function, whether real or symbolic. The Martian perspective opens up contemporary art to fresh interpretations. It allows for its reassessment from an alien standpoint, thus mimicking the way that Western anthropologists historically interpreted non-Western cultures through foreign eyes. Looking at contemporary art as though from outer space offers the potential to make the familiar strange and to the turn the dominant Euro-American art tradition into the ‘other’. It also raises pertinent questions about the use and value of contemporary art in human culture. Adopting a pseudo-anthropological approach, Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art employs eccentric taxonomies and surprising juxtapositions. Arranged according to how they function or are used by humans, objects are classified within a framework of four broad categories: Kinship and Descent ; Magic and Belief ; Ritual ; and Communication . Within these larger themes, objects are grouped in subcategories such as Ancestor Worship , Relics and Spirits , Ceremonial Objects , and Cultural Contact and arranged on plinths, in vitrines and on the wall. While interpretive labels and an audio guide enhance accessibility, and serve further to explicate the Martian’s understanding of the role and purpose of contemporary art, they also reveal humorous misunderstandings about the objects on view. The Martian Museum opens with a spectacular gallery conceived as the Great Hall of Ancestors. Presented within the category Kinship and Descent , works include totems, kinship diagrams, and various forms of ancestor worship. Thomas Hirschhorn ’s Musée Précaire Albinet (Lighter), 2004, is a four foot tall sculpture, in the shape of a cigarette lighter, featuring some of his artistic heroes such as Andy Warhol and Piet Mondrian. In Jay Heikes’ , Family Tree, 2003, brightly coloured sport jackets hang from a suspended tree trunk, suggesting connections between social groups. Sherrie Levine pays homage to Marcel Duchamp by casting a urinal in bronze, a precious metal and traditional material for sculpture, and thereby amplifying the gesture of transforming a common object into a work of art. Magic and Belief includes works that involve the literal or metaphorical transformation of materials from one form to another. Joseph Beuys ’ Capri Battery,1985, suggests that energy captured by the lemon from the Capri sun is magically transformed into a yellow bulb. Icons, relics and shrines also feature in this section. Andy Warhol ’s appropriation of the endlessly reproduced photograph of Mao Tse-Tung reinforces the Chinese political leader’s iconic status. Dr Lakra ’s decorative box contains a small wax hand covered in tattoos, conjuring up the preciousness of holy power. Haim Steinbach ’s work consists of seven small black alarm clocks and a gold model of C3PO from Star Wars carefully arranged on shelves, and is reminiscent of a shrine. Ritual features masks, costumes, props or other objects used in the observance of rites and ceremonial functions. Damien Hirst ’s wall sculpture of fish in glass containers, all aligned in the same direction, can be likened to a cave painting as an auspicious ritual designed to produce a successful hunt. Rituals and ceremonies are also presented through photographic and video documentation. In the video The Colleague In a Kitchen Garden by Rosemarie Trockel and Thea Djordjadze we see the sculpture they had made together being burnt to a cinder; with the ashes then placed in an urn. Communication gathers works together that reveal attempts to communicate with extraterrestrials by transmission of messages, information or ideas. Július Koller ’s Universal Futurological Question Mark, 1978, is a black and white photograph of a large group of people sitting in formation on a hillside; if viewed from a distance or above their positions appear as a question mark. Other works involve interplanetary journeys and missions. Like the Apollo astronauts, Bruce Nauman seeks to leave his trace on the moon with his neon sculpture, My Name As Though It Were Written on the Surface of the Moon, 1968 and suggests that the moon can be a readymade work of art. The last room in the Martian Museum is devoted to Unclassified Objects . These are recent acquisitions which have not yet been understood, interpreted and categorised. Barbican Art Gallery opening times: Daily 11am – 8pm, Tuesday & Wednesday 11am – 6pm, Time Out First Thursdays until 10pm. Admission: £8/ £6 concessions. |
Venue Information |
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| Name | Barbican Centre |
| Address |
Silk Street Corporation of London EC2Y 8DS |
| Telephone | 020 7638 4141 (centre switchboard) |
| Website | www.barbican.org.uk |
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