Michael Najjar “outer space”
Benrubi Gallery
This event has ended.
Benrubi Gallery presents German photo and video artist Michael Najjar’s solo exhibition, outer space – the artist’s first show with the gallery and the first major showing of this series in New York City. outer space explores the latest development in space travel and how it is shaping future life on earth and in near-earth orbit. Informed by Najjar’s training to become the first civilian artist to fly to space, the series of large-scale photographs capture an intense and immersive futuristic world, inspired by cutting-edge aeronautic technologies and the nascent space tourism industry. The potential of the photographic image is pushed to new frontiers as realistic elements fuse with fictitious realities to make visible what is invisible or beyond human perception.
Central to outer space is Najjar’s personal experience with space flight and the performative aspect of the exhibited images. As one of the pioneer astronauts of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Najjar has been undergoing an intensive, multistage cosmonaut training in Star City, Russia, since 2012, and is scheduled to board SpaceShipTwo in the near future. The artist uses the actual experience of training (zero-g flight, centrifuge training, stratosphere flight, and underwater space walks, to name a few) to create complex and never-before carried out photos that examine vital connections between humans and technology. Reality and simulation are so intertwined that they become indistinguishable, allowing for novel ways of seeing. Video artworks based on Najjar’s extreme training will be shown as part of the exhibition.
The acceleration in aeronautic research and industry and the birth of commercial space travel has brought humanity on the verge of a new era. The images of outer space – the ultra-high resolution telescope “golden eye II,” the world’s largest centrifuge, the first private spaceport, mineral mining on the moon, or space debris orbiting around the earth at fast speed – all address these technological advancements, attempting to elucidate their important cultural implication through artistic transformation. “By leaving our home planet and flying to the moon or other planets, we change our understanding of who we are and where we come from,” Najjar says. “The point is to reflect on our world and what it means to us and the generations to come after us. It’s about the very origins of the self.”
Michael Najjar (b. 1966) is a German artist, adventurer, and future astronaut, who has lived and worked in Berlin since 1988. Often described as a visual futurist, he works in photography and video and focuses on a “telematic society.” Examining the key components of a society driven and controlled by computer and information technology, his work creates visions and utopias of future social structures emerging from the impact of cutting-edge technological developments. Major photography series include “netropolis” (2003 - 2006), examining how global cities will develop in the future; and “high altitude“ (2008-2010), for which he climbed Mount Aconcagua (22,841 feet) and used the petrified zigzags of the mountain peaks to show the monumentality of financial markets.
Najjar’s work has been shown in museums, galleries and biennials around the world. In 2008, he had his first mid-career retrospective at the Museum for Photography and the Museum for Contemporary Art GEM in The Hague. In 2011 he participated in the milestone exhibition “Atlas – How to carry the world on one’s back,” shown at the Museo Reina Sofía, ZKM Museum for Contemporary Art and Deichtorhallen / Phönixhallen Hamburg. In addition, his work has been exhibited at Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Kunsthalle Hamburg / Galerie der Gegenwart, Hamburg; Deichtorhallen - International Museum of Photography, Hamburg; Marta Herford Museum, Herford; Edith Russ Site for Media Art, Oldenburg; Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Berlin; Goethe Institute, New York; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson; Science Museum, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Birmingham; New Media Art Institute, Amsterdam; Museum Trapholt, Kolding; FORMA International Centre for Photography, Milan; Centre pour l´image contemporaine, Geneva; Museo DA2 (Domus Artium 2002), Salamanca; Museo CAC, Málaga; Museo Es Baluard, Palma, Mallorca; National Museum of Science, Taipeh; and Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing.
Najjar’s work is represented in public collections including ZKM Museum for Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Museum Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Gemeente Museum, The Hague; Es Baluard Museum, Palma; CAC Museum Málaga, and in many leading corporate and private collections.
Media
Schedule
from March 31, 2016 to May 14, 2016
Opening Reception on 2016-03-31 from 18:00 to 20:00