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By Samantha Lim
Brooklyn Daily
It’s art, Jim, but not as we know it.
A new exhibition at Reverse gallery in Williamsburg is out of this world — and this timeline — featuring artwork inspired by science fiction and time travel. Curator Ginger Shulick, a self-professed geek, said the show “Future/Past” came from her own lifelong love of sci-fi.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Stanley Kubrick, particularly of his film sets that look simultaneously retro and futuristic,” said Shulic. “‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ really changed my life and I still think it holds up over time.”
Appropriately, given the subject matter, the works in “Future/Past” tend towards digital photography and video, rather than more traditional mediums.
“I typically only curate new media, as I’ve never been that interested in painting,” said Shulick. “Though I’m moving toward more object-based curating these days.”
Sci-fi nerds will delight in both subtle and obvious references to the classics of the genre throughout the exhibition. For instance, UK-based artist Sam Burford transformed time-lapse photographs from “Star Wars” into a silicon relief.
“Sam Burford created this piece with a 3D-printer on Jesmonite, which is essentially a plaster-based medium and very fragile,” said Shulick of the miniature cityscape. “I like how this piece looks like a white monolith or some futuristic relic you may find on an alien planet.”
More than one of the works on display also serves as a political commentary. “Cosmonaut 1001,” by Bulgarian artist Daniela Kostova, features a cherub-like child dressed in a space suit. While the viewer’s eyes are instantly drawn to the dove, a symbol of peace, perched upon the child’s space helmet, the patches sewn onto the sleeves of the its suit, representing capitalism and communism, are less noticeable.
“The work is about Bulgarian-Russian relations post-Cold War, which is certainly still applicable with the opening of the Olympic Games,” said Shulick. “These are still issues that people all over the world are still dealing with to this day.”
“Future/Past” at Reverse (28 Frost St. between Union Avenue and Frost Street in Williamsburg, www.reversespace.org). Through March 16.