COSMIC LAUGHTER
timewave zero, then what?
URSULA BLICKLE FOUNDATION
September 9 - October 12, 2012
By now everybody must have heard of the 2012 phenomenon. It consists in a range of eschatological beliefs
according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This is mainly based
on a particular reading of the Mayan calendar and not taken seriously by mainstream scholarship. Still there are
different interpretations on the meaning of that specific date. The prophecy could mean, for instance, that 2012
could well mark the end not of ”the“ world, the end of all possible worlds, but of a particular world, this world of
ours. Beyond the lunatic fringe views regarding the end of the world, a more constructive reading of the phenomenon
is found in new age circles claiming that 2012 might be the beginning of a higher consciousness in humanity,
seeing in the Mayan prophecy the promise that it introduces a transition to a new era when human beings will
undergo a spiritual and cultural transformation. By now the conviction that something has to change has broadened
beyond spiritual seekers.
Today, the accelerated rate of change in a variety of fields such as politics, the arts, and especially the economy,
has become overwhelming, leading to a feeling of powerlessness, on the one hand, and a perception, on the
other, that a limit or point of saturation is about to be reached, a zero point situation in a certain sense. Although
the reoccurring idea that “things have to change“ is nothing new within human history, the fact that the current
thrive for change coincides with the Mayan premonition provides an intriguing reason to curate a show on the topic.
The exhibition takes as a starting point the idea that whatever happens on that date, the simple fact that so much
human consciousness is projected onto 2012, makes 2012 real in a certain sense.
It is undeniable that the coincidence of the turning of the millennium with events such as 9/11, the Iraq war and
the present financial and ecological crisis has generated a sort of post-apocalyptic mood, creating the perfect
conditions for a renewed interest in the unknown. Fascination with it is nothing new; it comes and goes through
the passage of time, always having the capacity to renovate itself as many prominent writers and thinkers have
shown us. Artists are ready to embrace the inexplicable, the mysterious, the subconscious and the negative in
order to reinvent visual culture.
The exhibition at the Ursula Blickle Foundation seems thus to be the perfect time and occasion for artist Fabian
Marti and curator Cristina Ricupero to bring together artists from different generations united by the common
urge to create new worlds. The theme will thus inform a historically independent strand of subjective, highly
idiosyncratic art, stylized and informed by popular culture. Questions regarding artistic practice and shamanism,
altered states of the mind and creativity, parallel alternative knowledge, mental time travel, cults and rituals will
be at centre stage. Whether or not these types of artistic proposals will succeed in cleansing, protecting or healing
is less important than the assumption that they can perfectly embody the challenging and driving notion that art
can be a vehicle for transformation.
WIth Dirk Bell, Wallace Berman, Ulla von Brandenburg, A.A. Bronson, Agnieszka Brzezanska, Valentin Carron,
Enrico David, Delia Gonzalez, Balthazar Lovay, Karl Holmqvist, Fabian Marti, Park Chan-kyong/Park Chan-wook,
Seb Patane, Mai-Thu Perret, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Pamela Rosenkranz, Paul Thek/Peter Hujar, Klaus Weber
Curated by Cristina Ricupero and Fabian Marti .