EXHIBITION: GARDENS OF DREAMS

OPENING: 25/07, 18.30

Admission to the opening is free by prior registration. Registration is available here.

The exhibition includes artworks by Cao Fei, Refik Anadol, Aljoscha, Anatoly Gankevich, Megumi Ohata, Wolfgang Stiller, and Anna Myronova.

The project focuses on the study of imaginary worlds, views on the coexistence of humans with artificial intelligence, expanding the horizons of synthetic biology, virtuality and reality, as well as a metaphor for the temple of the future, which is being built today and is not solely constructed by humans.

People have long turned to gardens, both real and imaginary, in search of refuge from the frenzy of reality: from the sacred space of the Garden of Eden, a stronghold of unconditional love, joy, and the quintessence of high dreams, to the philosophers’ gardens. The latters have long served as a model and a source for meticulous self-improvement and self-development, a holy place for peace and enlightenment: these associations have been preserved in the public domain for centuries.

Where will the imagination bring a human being in search of paradise? Which seeds of today will form the garden of tomorrow? Will the dark shadows of the lush beauty of the garden of dreams bring good or evil?

Rapid technological development and the evolution of artificial intelligence call into question whether the human race will retain its superiority. Moreover, the uncertainty shrouds the trajectory of human development and questions their current position, as the starting point of departure to the future. The imperfection of peoples’ physical embodiment is that regardless of being creators like God, they remain dual and helpless to find immortality. Subject to the physical perishability of the body,  they seek eternal life in artificial worlds.

However, unlike advanced artificial forms of existence, it is primordially mankind that is endowed with the ability to dream and behave in an irrational way. Through their aspirations, people invent ways to form alternative realities and act as both creators and destructors in the constant pursuit of the highest good and everlasting life.

In fantasy and imagination, new dimensions are envisaged and born. Despite the utopia of paradise and their own dual nature, mortals, by virtue of their faith, continue searching.

About the artists of the “Gardens of Dreams” project:

Cao Fei is an ultra-contemporary artist ranked among the Top 5 in China, and her popularity is constantly growing. Cao Fei’s works have been exhibited in many global cultural institutions, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris and MoMA PS1 in New York.

Refik Anadol is an internationally renowned media artist, director, and pioneer in the aesthetics of machine intelligence, winner of numerous awards and prizes. Anadol’s site-specific audio/visual performances have been exhibited at MoMA (New York), the Centre Pompidou, Pinakothek der Moderne, Art Basel. And now, for the first time in Ukraine, Anadol’s work will be presented at the M17 Contemporary Art Center. Anadol works with artificial intelligence to create “machine hallucinations”, and thus addresses the question of whether machines can dream. By harnessing vast datasets and AI algorithms, the artist sought to visualize the dreams of machines, creating ethereal landscapes that blur the line between the digital and the physical.

Aljoscha’s works are represented in a number of museum collections across the world, such as Tate Modern in London and Museum Ludwig in Cologne, among others. Recently, his artworks were showcased at TEFAF art fairs in New York and Maastricht. Installations of Aljoscha offer transcendental immersion in the artist’s translucent and delicately coloured synthetic organic forms, inviting the audience to reflect on the phylogenetic origins of human eudaimonia and upcoming bioethics. The artist’s bioism is an attempt to create art based on vitality, multiplicity and complexity.

Anatoly Gankevich is famous for creating paintings in a unique technique – imitation of mosaics, and video art. Last year, Gankevich’s solo exhibition Night in Paradise was on view at the Frédérick Mouraux Gallery in Antwerp, Belgium. The artist bases his work on observation, creating an atmosphere, combining different plans and attention to detail.

Megumi Ohata was a runner-up for the Batsford Prize 2019 and delivered an artist talk “Reimagining Human Body” at the Tate Modern (London) in 2023. Ohata developed a technique for creating one-of-a-kind artificial skin textiles, imprinted with the artist’s own skin textures, and they perceive their art as an extension of the body, blurring boundaries beyond skin, seeking the non-human form within.

Wolfgang Stiller has been an artist for almost 40 years, during which time he witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the prime of popular culture. His works can be found in prestigious museum collections around the world, from China to Germany. Wolfgang Stiller’s work balances a sometimes ambiguous form of social commentary with playfulness, dark humor, and technical virtuosity. The human head as the locus of psyche and personality is a central motif for Stiller, and recurs in wildly different and imaginative contexts across his oeuvre.

Anna Myronova has recently been appointed a corresponding member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine. She is a lecturer at the Design Department of the Institute of Arts at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University. As early as 2016, Anna Myronova was included in the Forbes ranking of the most successful representatives of contemporary Ukrainian art. Myronova produces paintings, graphics, art objects and photographs. In her work, the artist often explores the space of the Universe and the space inside a person – the space of memory that goes back to the beginning of time. For the Gardens of Dreams exhibition project, Anna Myronova created new works of art that reflect metaphysical landscapes and unexplored horizons.

Further information: https://m17.kiev.ua/en/exhibition/gardens-of-dreams/