September 1, 2022–January 8, 2023
Museumstr. 14
Linz 4020
Austria
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6pm
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info@ooelkg.at
On the occasion of the highly topical discussion about virtual spaces and the so-called Metaverse, the Francisco Carolinum presents Meta.space: Visions of Space, an exhibition revolving around the theme of artistic engagement with space, touching on several epochs—from the Middle Ages to the digital present.
What is currently en vogue as an escape from reality between the conquest of space and the virtualization of everyday life has spurred and inspired artists for centuries: The creation and design of worlds and the artistic exploration of social, real and imaginary spaces. Time and again, social developments have been anticipated and influenced in a sustained manner. And thus, current trends such as the various Metaverse fantasies are by no means as revolutionary as they like to sell themselves. Concepts and ideas for the Metaverse have always emerged as utopian-dystopian answers to human escapism, which manifests itself in a mixture of enthusiasm for science, technological progress, and artistic creation.
The exhibition Meta.space: Visions of Space takes a look at spatial concepts and visions by means of a selection of artistic works from various epochs and sheds light on the creation of space before and during the contemporary development of virtual spaces. The framework for this is a curated dialogue of works from the collections of the OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH with contemporary works.
The framework of content ranges from the thematization of early painterly solutions to pictorial spatial problems from the 15th century onward and the spatiality of sculptural works to the sensory, scientific and technical development of spaces and the recording and penetration of social spaces. Finally, it culminates in the examination of a wide variety of digital world concepts and not only investigates their artistic and social implications but also critically questions the dystopian as well as the utopian potential of current Metaverse and Metaspace concepts against the backdrop of the Metaverse debates.
