Anton Kats: Grounded Outer Space People

Grounded Outer Space People by Anton Kats is a performative exhibition at Galerie Wedding, Berlin, curated by Solvej Helweg Ovesen, marking the latest iteration of the nomadic band project of the same name. 

With: Anja Jadryschnikova, Khaled Kurbeh, Jared Meier-Klodt, Hani Mojtahedy, Aiko Okamoto, Ziggy Zeitgeist

Grounded Outer Space People is a music ensemble/artist residency by Anton Kats (b. 1983 in Kherson), a Ukrainian visual artist, musician, and dancer, investigating the relationship between transmigration and music. Operating in their temporary studio the group of artists in residency inhabits the exhibition space and expands this frame through ensemble rehearsals, concerts, presentations, performances, sound- and visual works, and workshops. Upscaled scores and space travel drawings extend over the gallery walls setting forth the launch of Vostok 7, vinyl, a radio play conceived as a reenactment of the spaceship that has yet to be built. Vostok 7 is the main sound piece in the exhibition. Situated on the Satelite Island in Kherson, Ukraine, the narrative and the drawings are an artistic study of the Vostok Program of Soviet Space Travel that began with Yuri Gagarin’s first manned space flight, Vostok 1 in 1961, and ended with Vostok 6 in 1963 with the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, the anti-hero of the exhibition. Listening, transmission, agency, and collaboration are at the core of Kats’ work as a response to contemporary political and social alienation. Driven through the perceptual shift from the visual to the sonic, the exhibition space and studio operate a mobile sound system, a radio station, and a listening space full of musical instruments and sonic devices.

At a moment when most political concepts fail, the artist turns to the protagonists of Ukrainian Cosmism such as Fedir Tetyanych, also drawing inspiration from musicians, improvisers, and artists such as Don Cherry and Moki Cherry. This synthesis offers a dynamic starting point to explore and extend the concept of transmigration as a performative, artistic, and collective practice. Inviting multidisciplinary artists from different backgrounds to expand on the contemporary understanding of migration through an ephemeral music ensemble, Grounded Outer Space People propose a critical mapping from which the poetics of displacement might emerge.

Opening doors to the first iteration of the Transmigration Library the audience is invited to engage with an ever-changing collection of books curated by Kats on sound, music, and politically engaged artistic practice. Playfully embracing the notion of reincarnation, taking one lifetime at a time, the project points towards the very concrete dimensions of a body, family, country, planet, history, and the necessity to fully engage in practice from this vantage point.

Works by Anton Kats have been exhibited and performed in venues including SAVVY Contemporary, Serpentine Galleries, Tate Modern, Roskilde Festival, Kochi Muziris Biennale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and documenta14 in Athens and Kassel.

Grounded Outer Space People
October 14–November 19, 2022
Performative exhibition and music ensemble by Anton Kats with Anja Jadryschnikova, Khaled Kurbeh, Jared Meier-Klodt, Hani Mojtahedy, Aiko Okamoto, Ziggy Zeitgeist

Curated by Solvej Helweg Ovesen.

Within the framework of Existing Otherwise: Anders Existieren 2021–22 at Galerie Wedding.

Further events at Galerie Wedding
October 25, 2022, 7–9pm: Interlude Grounded Outer Space People with Khaled Kurbeh & Raman Khalaf
October 26, 2022: Radio transmission Notiz für die Welt danach with Aiko Okamoto (online)

November 9, 2022, 4pm: ODYSSEY WITHIN a short film premiere by Anja Jadryschnikova featuring a performance by The Way Collective
November 10, 2022, 6pm: Same Page Different Corner with Anton Kats ‒ Ukrainian musicians meet up and Vostok 7 listening session
November 18, 2022, 5pm: Exhibition tour with Solvej Helweg Ovesen and Anton Kats
November 18, 2022, 7–9pm: Volta Grounded Outer Space People ‒ Final performance and concert

With the kind support of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Exhibition Remuneration Fund, and Exhibition Fund for Municipal Galleries and Musicboard Berlin.

Press contact
Maja Smoszna, presse@galerieweddding.de