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Imagining Disaster: Contemporary Art X Science Fiction Programme


Commissioning | Programming | Research

Commissioned by Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, 
30 August-5 September 2021
Overview: 

Science Fiction has existed as a recognised genre for more than a century. Its emergence, broadly depending on which writer of which story you believe truly marks SF’s origins, runs roughly in parallel with the birth of cinema. From Georges Melies’ fanciful A Trip to the Moon (1902) to Stanley Kubrick’s masterful 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) it has, and continues to, inspire imaginations and audiences to this day.

In turn, Imagining Disaster: Contemporary Art X Science Fiction, is inspired by the genre many of us fell in love with when we were children – via films like Star Wars (1977) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Its other departure point is Susan Sontag’s 1965 essay The Imagination of disaster, in which the critic states: “Science fiction films are not about science. They are about disaster, which is one of the oldest subjects of art.” Earlier in the decade, Chris Marker’s ‘photo-novel’ La Jetée (1962) – with its post-apocalyptic time travel narrative – had demonstrated just that (and so much more besides).

In recent years, contemporary artists including, but by no means limited to, Keith Piper, Larissa Sansour, and Larry Achiampong have increasingly borrowed from, leaned into, and otherwise employed the science fiction playbook in their work. Why would this be, and why now? Or perhaps the better question would be: what took visual artists so long?

To help provide some of the answers, join us in exploring and addressing these questions and more, in the form of new writing, conversations, and digital takeovers. Our programme will feature artists, writers, academics and – most importantly – fans of science fiction, all prompted by the brimming possibilities offered by this once niche, sometimes ghettoised genre.

More:

Essays by Stephanie Bailey, Prof. Roger Luckhurst, Dr. Glyn Morgan and Mike Pinnington. CLICK HERE

In conversation: watch an online panel discussion with Mike Pinnington, David Blandy, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Basma Ghalayini discussing the potential of science fiction in the visual arts and further afield. CLICK HERE

Reading List: a selection of science fiction novels, anthologies, short stories and non-fiction. Suggested by the curator, contributors and audience of the Imagining Disaster events programme, as a starting point for thinking and for conversations around its themes. CLICK HERE

Follow Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley who’ll be sharing their work and inspirations in a special Open Eye Gallery Instagram takeover. CLICK HERE

And watch out for new photography in a special Open Eye Stories responding to the themes of Imagining Disaster. 

Imagining Disaster: Contemporary Art X Science Fiction investigates what it is about science fiction – be it in the form of Afrofuturism, dystopia, post-apocalyptic or posthumanism – that inspires and allows us to communicate ideas so eloquently and vividly. 

Produced by Mike Pinnington.

Images:
Illustration by Wumi Olaosebikan.
Frank R. Paul, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

︎︎︎ openeye.org.uk

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Email: mike@thedoublenegative.co.uk
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Tuesday Oct 5 2021