Genossin Sonne

Image: The Otolith Group, In The Year of the Quiet Sun, 2013, Videostill, Courtesy of the artists, © The Otolith Group

Before the term ‘revolution’ was used in the 18th century - under the influence of the French Revolution - to describe a ‘violent overthrow of the existing political or social order’, it was used in astronomy to describe the rotation of celestial bodies.

This essayistic group exhibition is dedicated to artistic works and theories that link the cosmos and in particular the sun, the energy supplier for life on earth, with social and political movements. Against the background of the decentring of the human being as a historical subject, we ask to what extent not only the environment on earth but also the cosmos plays a part in historical processes. Is there, as the Soviet cosmists claimed, a connection between increased solar activity (an increase in sunspots and winds) and terrestrial revolutions? And what speculative, pleasurable considerations can be found in contemporary art and poetry?

The works of international artists focus on the moving image - on cinema, film and video as media of light. But the works in other media also radiate hypnotic, feverish, glowing, threatening affects. Overall, the sun functions on the one hand as a source of life and energy for political struggles and on the other as a warning figure whose sheer mass and lifespan emphasise the brevity of human life on planet Earth. And also: What if it never sets or rises again and time becomes even more unhinged than it already is?
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication (de/en).

A co-operation with the Kunsthalle Wien and the Wiener Festwochen | Freie Wiener Republik