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Katja Novitskova, Approximation Mars I, 2014. Digital print on aluminum, cutout display, plant granulat. 140 x 240 cm. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler. Photo Hans-Georg Gaul<\/p>\n Katja Novitskova, Approximation Mars I, 2014. Digital print on aluminum, cutout display, plant granulat. 140 x 240 cm. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler. Photo Hans-Georg Gaul<\/p>\n
A NASA press release was headlined, \u201cThe next best thing to being there,\u201d as it described the stunning panoramic views captured on Planet Mars b\u00ady the Rover Opportunity, a robotic rover active on planet Mars since January 2004. Katja Novitskova describes this as a starting point of inspiration for her latest exhibition at Berlin’s Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, entitled “Spirit, Curiosity and Opportunity”.<\/p>\n
In this multi-layered show, Novitskova presents nature as a living machine. The Estonian-born, Amsterdam-based artist proposes that nature is an advanced symbiosis of hardware and software with an agency that is still incomparable to any laboratory created bio-technology. \u201cThe intensity and complexity of nature is still unrepeated in human-made designs and that is one of the reasons why, when I compare a bird to the Curiosity rover, the bird is a much more complex formally, visually, and computationally\u201d, says Novitskova.<\/p>\n
A highlight of “Spirit, Curiosity and Opportunity” is an ancient Marabou bird stranded on an arid Martian landscape, broadcast in low resolution onto a flat screen monitor. In this video piece Novitskova uses imagery produced by technology as the material source for investigating the evolution of visual forms. But the image is not real; it’s a fake! The footage is actually a live recording streaming from the basement of the Berliner Zeitung building, where Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler is located. A room-sized mock-up contains the Martian terrain in a staged scenario. Printed cut-outs and carefully placed rocks rest on a backdrop of sourced NASA rover imagery, recorded via a small MacBook Pro camera and redistributed over WiFi up to the gallery floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This leads to an interesting question \u2013 is the original NASA recording of Planet Mars real? Or is it simply a poor quality photograph taken in the Arizona desert? Conspiracy theorists pose similar questions on the authenticity of rover images. In online forums, potential humanoid figures, monolithic sculptures and geometrical shapes are spotted, circled and debated over by skeptics seeking to uncover meaningful truths in the data mass. \u201cNow that the technology to get people to Mars is almost there – it will be there in 10 years – why are we doing this? And the question is, what are we going to do there after we get there and then will there be a way to come back?\u201d asks Novitskova.<\/p>\n\n
Arrows feature prominently throughout the exhibition. Red arrows with bits of “stuff” – flies, flowers and bugs, petrified and suspended in a clear polyurethane hell as the passage of time is expressed in a cyclic, circular and schizophrenic redness. \u201cThe arrow is like a virtual object,\u201d explains Novitskova. \u201cThe economic growth arrow embodies the process of a state change\u201d. The arrow\u2019s materiality lies in the ancient craft of archery. \u201cThe thing to understand is that an arrow moving forward is a convention\u201d. The symbol is reused to the extent that we no longer question it \u2013 it is unequivocal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Katja Novitskova, Growth Potentials (Mars), 2014. Digital prints on film, urethane rubber, insects. 160 x 300 cm. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler. Photo Hans-Georg Gaul<\/p>\n
The disparate links in Novitskova\u2019s work only become apparent when we zoom out with a macro lens on the concept of time beyond the “New York minute”: a period of geological time where evolution occurs slowly over thousands and millions of years. Novitskova explains that the animals in her work \u201cchannel the complexity of robots to come\u201d, describing a kinship among animals and humans as united byproducts of Earth minerals.<\/p>\n
As humans, we see reflections of ourselves in the imagery broadcast from other planets. We identify with the landscape and seek to make sense in the complexity surrounding us. We create culture, make art, speculate, criticize and explore. As much as spirit, curiosity and opportunity are metaphors, they can also be seen as real attributes that are like ripples echoing throughout the universe.<\/p>\n
Novitskova’s exhibition is borne out of a sensitivity for living things and is fuelled by a speculative optimism on the future merge of biology and technology. It provokes questions about the future of life and invites us to reflect on our present state of affairs. How can biology give us insights into prospective technology? What are the responsibilities we have as a species as we enter an informational age? These questions don’t have easy answers, but they have the potential to raise challenging and stimulating discussions. We might not there yet, but could we be getting a little closer?<\/p>\n
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