2018, 7 x 6 x 7 meters, wood, cardboard, glass, plexiglass, led-lighting and architecture model.
Parallel at two venues – in the Kunstmuseum Ahlen and in the Marta Herford – this exhibition, curated by Friederike Fast, is devoted to the fascinating history of the expo. In dialogue with contemporary artists, the “best expo in the world” places themes at the centre which are just as controversial as they were over a hundred years ago.
Within this exhibition, Voerman relates to the 1939 pavilion in New York which concisted of a large döme with a pylon, with inside a large model of a future modernistic city. In Marta Herford Voerman has build a large installation with also a model inside. The installation is called "Entropic Empire". Inside the installation a model of the UN-headquarters in New York. A ruined version with claddings and new structures in and around it, set in a flooded area. The theme of the 1939-worldfair in this context is "Democracy and Decay". To this day the UN-building is considered a symbol of peace and international understanding . By placing this building with a political function at the center of perception and combining it with fragments of a football stadium, Voerman addresses the connection between architectural form and political concepts. Is this architecture still a suitable expression of an international understanding of democracy? And how do we want to build in the future? Important in this work is the notion of entropy. Currently everything seem to be changing very fast: geo-politically, ecologically, technologically, etc. While the original 1939 model showed a clear bright future of modernism. Nowadays, by the massive amount of information and a more complex world, clear views of the future or utopian visions seem to be absent. The clear bright window of modernism seem literally shattered into many colored small windows and dark oval windows staring outwards within Voerman's work. The many different prints in various languages on the cardboard also shows the world has been much more connected since. During the show workshops will take place in and around Voerman's work to dicuss the theme "Democracy and Decay", a theme which obviously has become very relevant in the last few years. Ideas and outcomes of these workshops will be partially written on the walls inside the installation. By this, the work becomes "a work in progress" in a way.
The exhibition will end on the 10th. of February 2019.
This work was made possible by the generous support of the Mondriaanfoundation.