get into a raw showing in Washington , DC’sCorcoran Gallery of Artis like walking into a movie mash - up of Stanley Kubrick’s2001 : A Space Odysseyand National Lampoon’sAnimal House .
In the centre of an ornate room stands a layer on a produce platform . Crashed facial expression - first under the sheets lie what looks like an astronaut who slept through the alarm and missed his spacewalk . It ’s a pressurised spacesuit , on loanword from NASA , surrounded by empty beer and soda ash cans , crush - out cigarettes , and dust food . Only after TV audience introduce and approach the sleeping figure does it become clear that this spaceman is seize a pliant jug of cheese puffs , as if apply a devotee .
The exhibit is calledAre We There Yet?and it provides a startling juxtaposition of mankind ’s greatest dreaming and our less - stellar reality .
orbit the bed in this way - sized workplace are nine “ planet ” represent by stacks of food for thought and beverages . These provisions were chosen by their popularity here on Earth rather than their appropriateness for a blank space flight . One clump consists of 40 boxes of Kraft ’s Velveeta cheese . Another is made up of 360 cans of Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli . And still another by 95 cases of Coca - Cola .
The artist , Australian pairClaire Healy and Sean Cordeiro , even consider up the calorie and made trusted it was just enough to sustain a squad of spaceman for the 520 - day voyage to Mars and back . The slick promotional material of the well - known brand name take on an unearthly radiance under the museum light , seeming to exert a kind of gravitational pull of their own .
The artistic duo has collaborate since they met in graduate school 10 years ago at the University of New South Wales , and they are now enjoying a grow worldwide reputation . They now split their clip between studios in Sydney and Berlin . Much of their work involves civilization jamming – reconfiguring consumer and found aim and get nods to popular culture as they go . Their work was chosen for the 2009Venice Biennale , and in addition to the current exhibition , they are about to opena show at Frey Norris galleryin San Francisco .
The exhibit ’s curator , Beatrice Gralton , said she first encountered their work when stroll along Australia ’s famous Bondi Beach . The artists had mounted a “ carving by the sea ” consisting of an USA tankful with a front porch attached and a Weber grill and lawn ornaments nearby . Gralton enounce she was impressed by their playfulness and ability to respond to different locations . The gallery decide to ask for them to make a work as part of its NOW series that highlights emerge and mid - calling artist .
As Cordeiro and Healy direct a walk - through of the Washington exhibit at its orifice this week , they explained that the approximation for the show arose when they first travelled to the U.S. to do a situation visit of the picture gallery . During the trip they made stops at both the Smithsonian’sNational Air and Space Museum , home to pieces of NASA history such as the Apollo 11 statement module Columbia from the first lunar landing , and at Costco , the gargantuan wholesale store known for selling good in bulk . “ They ’re both monumental spaces , ” Healy said .
She said the work is not meant as a jab at the U.S. space government agency , which latterly ended its birdie program . “ I have mixed feelings , ” she say . “ It ’s really authoritative for humans to have these aspirations , but what do you do when we ’re in such economic discord ? ”
On display downstairs at the gallery is another dark yet playful take on space travel . A serial publication of rampart - hop on works revive photographs of the 1986 Challenger explosion using Lego blocks . Some of them seem merely abstract bursts of color , but several are immediately recognizable as a pair of rocket salad boosters hurling off - course . The works also call back the schoolteacher aboard that fateful flying , who was along for the ride as part of an educational outreach broadcast .
Both artists are now in their later XXX , so were themselves baby at the time of the shuttle disaster they describe . Somehow , using the puerility blocks to recreate effigy of the explosion does not degrade the upshot , or even counteract the gravitational force of what took place . Instead , this unexpected combining , like the creative person ’ other mash - ups , is at once personal and provocative .
Are We There Yet?by Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro will be establish at theCorcoran Gallery of Artin Washington , DC until 15 December 2024 .
This post primitively appeared onNew Scientist . Top image viaThe Corcoran Gallery of Art .
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