Michael Workman

Since the exile of postmodernism, we are now faced with an unusual question: is it possible to feel nostalgic for the future?

During the reign of postmodernism, disproving the presence of aliens among us became a philosophical quandary between what we can and cannot know. Our minds make reality a plaything of perception filtered through identities constructed by class systems and manipulated by media imagery. Constantly flooded with promises that the tools to make our lives easier will last forever while being incrementally improved upon, we are encouraged to envision a future of unending resources and widespread prosperity.

"Anti-Spacesuit--The Dirty Future," a gallery show and screening organized by Sabine Gruffat and Ben Russel, attempts to tackle the vision of a future world that's not all it's cracked up to be. "Utopia Station" at the Venice Biennale addressed many of the same questions to be raised by "Anti-Spacesuit," and even with futurism a failed endeavor that has dwindled to mere speculations in idealism, the topic is clearly an attractive artistic subject--more than forty artists will exhibit work here, ranging in medium from photography and painting to sculpture, film and video.

Gruffat and Russel, who have included their own work in the show, moved to Chicago to study at the School of the Art Institute after meeting in Rhode Island. The two coined the term "anti-spacesuit" while collaborating on a film project. "We made it up in an attempt to define an aesthetic," says Gruffat. "We would walk around, pick out things around us, and say `Oh, that's so anti-spacesuit.' We were trying to get at this idea of a future that stays the same. This romantic, utopian notion of a future that is more what you want it to be than it actually is." Gruffat thinks this habit of idealizing what's yet to come also distorts our perspective of time, resulting in representations of a future distinctly influenced by artistic trends of the past. In a single shopworn word: nostalgic.

Gruffat views contemporary visions of the future as less fantastic and more grounded in the lessons of modern history. For Gruffat and Russel, the concept of utopia, as first proposed by Thomas More in 1516, has since become a soiled pursuit. Consider how adherents of utopianism have trafficked in totalitarianism or, on a much smaller scale, at the accelerated state of modern social atomization, and you'll find evidence of utopia's failed promise. "We seem to finally know that certain utopian ideals aren't going to happen--and artists' concepts of the future now are pretty negative, like a wasteland. Apocalyptic, but kind of fun."

Gruffat points out how our faith in technology also plays into the traditional concept of utopia as the vehicle of a shinier, happier future. "Anti-Spacesuit" highlights the distinction between imagined and real, the concerns of living humans and the application of science to dead matter. Regardless how skilled our manipulation of that dead matter, "we still cry when our hearts get broken, and we still don't know if UFOs are real." Chicago-based Michelle Wasson, noted for her images of Disneyland's Epcot Center in a state of demolition, exemplifies the crumbling of this technocratic utopian vision. Playing off these paired promises of technology and utopia, Gruffat and Russel inject some humor by asking why people aren't yet zipping across the skies in flying cars or sending off robot armies to fight out messy human conflicts. Gruffat finds more practicable uses in more mundane, less excessive pursuits than utopianism, explaining that "as much as a computer chip, technology can also be represented by something like cardboard." Thus, "boxy cardboard robots" have also been included in the show.

The desire to pair a film screening with the Gallery 2 exhibit had its roots in the difficulties of showing film and video work in a gallery setting. "Ben and I are both filmmakers and multimedia artists, and our work is not easily viewed in a gallery. Ideally, both of these can be joined; we're also hoping to lure some of the gallery crowd in for the films." The screening is scheduled at the Gene Siskel Film Center for one night only and will be presented as part of the Film Center's "At the Edge" series. Gruffat predicts that "Anti-Spacesuit" will deviate from the usual format of the "At the Edge" series. On the bill is New York-based art collaborative Forcefield, Jennifer Reeder of "White Trash Girl" fame, and the film that gave Gruffat and Russel the idea for the entire project, titled "The Ataraxians." "Usually, they bring in avant-garde filmmakers, show their films or videos and have them talk about their work. This will be a little different."

"Anti-Spacesuit--The Dirty Future" at Gallery 2 shows at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 847 West Jackson Boulevard, (312)563-5162, from August 23 to October 11, with a reception Friday, August 29, 6-8pm. Screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center is 9:30pm on September 4.

(2003-08-20)

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