The exhibition „FUTURE MEMORIES. Utopia Dystopia Nature“ articulates the changed image of landscape and nature in contemporary art. Triggered by a rethinking of the future challenges in dealing with a nature in transition, 34 inspiring positions of international artists were selected by Harald KRAEMER for an exhibition to be held in Hong Kong in March 2021. Utopian speculations of tomorrow take their place alongside dystopian scenarios. Since the 1960s, our increasingly crisis-ridden planet has inspired artists to create works that show the changing relationship of humans to nature.

One of the main themes of art, especially in painting and photography, is the exploration of nature and landscape. The exhibition FUTURE MEMORIES focuses on the central question of how the artist’s relationship to nature has changed in recent years. Works by artists such as Tobias KLEIN, Mary Curtis RATCLIFF, LIAO Zenping and YU Ka Ho articulating new, often disturbing views and vistas throughout a changed landscape understanding. While Matthew NORTHRIDGE, Stefan PETERS and LIU Wai Hang Ticko make the landscape visible in its diversity and richness of views, SHUM Kwan Yi Sim and Bernard AMMERER show us how close beauty and the seemingly inevitable are. Gernot BUBENIK, George STEINMANN, and Angela SU take a different view; they focus on a future-oriented interplay of nature, science and technology that calls for reconciliation. A sensual and physical demand that is also reflected in the work of ZHENG Bo as well as in the abstract female-floral fusions of Tanja SELZER. Opposing this fusion are works by IP Yuk Yiu, Tomás LAURENZO and Edwin LO that create dystopian vistas into a collapsed future.

Sena BAŞÖZ shows in her airy installation the extinction of species and questions the influence of humans on this. The contributions by Ian Hamilton FINLAY, Anders Scrmn MEISNER, Elke REINHUBER, Herbert STAREK, Manfred STUMPF and Kat SURYNA examine the topic from a partly mythical-historical perspective, which has both a radical and a certain irony about it. Cédric MARIDET, Don RITTER, Robert Lettner, but also Joseph BEUYS voice their warnings in the most diverse ways. In the work of LAI Cheuk Wah Sarah and Joseph LEUNG Mong Sum, two basic ways in dealing with nature are highlighted: to want to control it or to adapt to it. But that nature can hardly be controlled becomes clear in the disturbing video by Louis NIXON. The temporal aspect of the urgency to act is expressed in the works of Lawrence WEINER and Nicole WONG. And dance artist Judy YIU translates these questions into an installation and performance.

The exhibition is designed as a labyrinth and to reach the centre you have to take a utopian or dystopian path. Once you have reached the heart of the exhibition, there is one film each by George STEINMANN and ZHENG Bo to discover. In cooperation with students of MA Stream Curating Art & Media, FUTURE MEMORIES is accompanied by an extensive supporting programme on site and online with lectures and discussions, readings, film screenings. The catalogue will be published in March 2021.

Participating Artists: Bernard AMMERER (Vienna), Gernot BUBENIK (Berlin), Tobias KLEIN (Hong Kong), Robert LETTNER († Vienna), LIU Wai Hang Ticko (Hong Kong), Anders Scrmn MEISNER (Copenhagen), Stefan PETERS (Hasselt, Belgium), Don RITTER (Montreal), Herbert STAREK (Vienna), Angela SU (Hong Kong), Nicole WONG (Hong Kong), ZHENG Bo (Hong Kong), Sena BAŞÖZ (Istanbul), Ian Hamilton FINLAY († Edinburgh), LAI Cheuk Wah Sarah (Hong Kong), Joseph LEUNG Mong Sum (Hong Kong), Edwin LO (Hong Kong), Louis NIXON (Hong Kong), Mary Curtis RATCLIFF (Berkeley, CA) Tanja SELZER (Berlin), George STEINMANN (Bern), Kat SURYNA (Hong Kong), Judy YIU (Hong Kong), Joseph BEUYS († Düsseldorf), IP Yuk Yiu (Hong Kong), Tomás LAURENZO (Hong Kong), LIAO Zenping (New Taipei City, Taiwan), Cédric MARIDET (Hong Kong), Matthew NORTHRIDGE (New York), Elke REINHUBER (Hong Kong), SHUM Kwan Yi Sim (Hong Kong) Manfred STUMPF (Alsfeld, Germany), Lawrence WEINER (New York), YU Ka Ho Albert (Hong Kong)

Curator / Exhibition Design: Harald KRAEMER & Organization: Fion NG
In cooperation with students of SM6340 Curatorial Project of MA Curating Art & Media, School of Creative Media, CityU Supported by Goethe Institut, Hong Kong