Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
Ajebota by Precious Okoyomon - 435 x 600mm
Dye sub print to poly-opaque fabric with foam padding
Print double sided and edges of cushion with zip fastening
Edition of 20
£250 (incl. VAT) per cushion.
Ajebota (2016) a Youraba word meaning "spoiled rich kid," is Precious Okoyomon's first book of poetry which explores the complexities of their identity as a black queer immigrant inhabiting a specific class position. This poetry book often uses text abbreviation and frequently steals from the work of other poets. Some of his work comments on the difficulty of interacting with poetry in this digital age.
Alienarium 5 was a speculative environment that invited visitors to imagine possible encounters with extraterrestrials. The exhibition was Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s first major institutional solo show in the UK since TH.2058 at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2008, and was a culmination of her decades-long interest in science fiction and continued research into deep space and alien life. Conceived site-specifically for Serpentine, the exhibition featured almost entirely new work that engaged both the gallery’s internal and external space.
For Alienarium 5, Gonzalez-Foerster collaborated with writer and philosopher Paul B. Preciado, musician Julien Perez and parfumier Barnabé Fillion, among others, to transform Serpentine into a spectacular and otherworldly environment. This welcomed visitors into a world of expanded possibility and was, in the artist’s words, “a mutant place contributing to the invention of new technologies of consciousness. It is an anti-War of the Worlds vision”.
Inhabiting the experimental ideas at the core of Alienarium 5, the choice of book covers illustrates Gonzalez-Foerster’s long interest in sci-fi, the spiritual and magical, as well as the existence of the artists within this digital age.
© Photo: readsreads.info
