On View
Looking ‘Future Shock’ in the Face, an Art Exhibition Reveals a Society Fundamentally Unsettled by Technology
Show of the Day: “Future Shock” at SITE Santa Fe.
Tanner West
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“Future Shock”
SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
What the Institution Says: “Future Shock [is] a large-scale exhibition of international artists that articulates the profound impact of the acceleration of technological, social, and structural change upon contemporary life. [This exhibition] takes its title from Alvin Toffler’s prophetic 1970’s book, in which he describes the exhilaration and consequences of our rapidly advancing world. With Toffler’s predictions and warnings as a backdrop, ‘Future Shock’ [brings] together the work of 10 artists, including new commissions by Regina Silviera, Alexis Rockman, and Lynn Hershman Leeson, whose works imagine a range of visions of our present and future.”
Why It’s Worth a Look: “Future Shock” sets its sights on several big issues that couldn’t feel more timely—mass surveillance, technocapitalism, globalization, population growth, pressing environmental concerns, and others. But it’s also fun, with Tom Sachs’s Mars rovers and Doug Aitken’s surreal video vignettes of animals turned lose in abandoned hotel rooms sharing space with Dario Robleto’s plaintive time capsule-like collection of artifacts and Patrick Bernatchez’s Lost in Time, a bleak video narrative depicting figures adrift in an icy wilderness. You have to admire the ambition of curator Irene Hofmann, who sets a high bar here for the Santa Fe institution’s debut in its brand new, SHoP Architects-designed home.
What It Looks Like:
Tom Sachs, Mars Excursion Roving Vehicle (MERV) (2010–12). Courtesy of the artist and SITE Santa Fe. Photo: Eric Swanson.
Installation view of Doug Aitken, Migration (empire) (2008). Courtesy of the artist; 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
Doug Aitken, migration (empire) (2008). Production still. Courtesy of the artist; 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles.
Lynn Hershman Leeson, The Infinity Engine (2014–17). Courtesy of the artist; Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco; Bridget Donahue, New York; and SITE Santa Fe. Photo: Eric Swanson.
Lynn Hershman Leeson, The Infinity Engine (2014–17). Installation view, Lynn Hershman Leeson Civic Radar, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, 2017. Courtesy Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Photo by Charlie Villyard.
Alexis Rockman, Bronx Zoo (2013). Courtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York.
Andrea Zittel, Linear Sequence (A-Z West) (2016). Courtesy of the artist; Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; Regen Projects, Los Angeles; and SITE Santa Fe. Photo: Eric Swanson.
Andreas Gursky, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (1997). Courtesy of the artist and Sprüth Magers, Berlin and London Image © Andreas Gursky / 2017 / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Courtesy Sprüth Magers.
Installation view of Dario Robleto, Setlists for a Setting Sun (The Crystal Palace) (2014). Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery, Houston.
Dario Robleto, Setlists for a Setting Sun (The Crystal Palace) (2014). Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery, Houston.
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in collaboration with Krzysztof Wodiczko, Zoom Pavilion, 2015. Courtesy of the artist; bitforms gallery, New York; and SITE Santa Fe. Photo: Eric Swanson.
Patrick Bernatchez, Lost in Time (2014). Production still. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Patrick Bernatchez.
Regina Silveira, MUNDUS ADMIRABILIS (2007–ongoing). Courtesy of the artist and SITE Santa Fe. Photo: Eric Swanson.
“Future Shock” is on view through May 1, 2018. SITE Santa Fe is located at 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe.
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