Intro
Aleksandra Mir: Welcome Back to Earth
Kunsthalle St. Gallen, St.Gallen
12 April–9 June 2003
Content
Aleksandra Mir's exhibition 'Welcome back to Earth' brings together new and early works from the internationally renowned artist, throwing a bridge from her performance "First Woman on the Moon" to her newest project "Plane Landing". On 28 August 1999, massive drilling and digging vehicles transformed for one night and one day a sandy beach in the Netherlands into a "moonscape". Through radio and television, "First Woman on the Moon" was broadcasted as a historical event through numerous interviews and press releases. "First Woman on the Moon" brings out questions on the accuracy and manipulation of facts. At the same time, it is a performance, a sculpture, "Land art" and a huge playground. The work was accompanied by a historic painting from the Icelandic artist Errò depicting the crew of the spaceship Gemini 10.
Aleksandra Mir's interests lay in the connections between publicity, science, media and economy. In "Aviation Archive", produced by Kunsthalle St. Gallen, she lines up hundreds of books on a shelf. On every cover, either a picture of a plane or a sky can be found. This "flight archive" is a collection of metaphors and symbols and shows how archetypes are transformed into visual codes. More objects relating to lunar flights and aviation are exhibited, like for instance an original badge imprinted with the NASA welcome message that Aleksandra Mir uses as title to her exhibition.
"Plane Landing" is the title of Aleksandra Mir's new project. A large CAD-Plot shows the scale plans of a hot air balloon in the shape of a long distance airplane. During a future happening, the 20 meter long prototype will be brought to fly over the Swiss alps and hang in the air as a peaceful monumental artwork. The exhibition 'Welcome Back to Earth' acts as promotional kick-off for "Plane Landing".
