Mexico City, February 19 – March 18, 2004
Curated by Ichiro Irie
Artists: Artemio, Fernanda Brunet, Horacio Cadzco, Miguel Calderón, Rubén Gutiérrez, Ichiro Irie, Teresa Margolles
The exhibition Science Fiction / Horror Sublime explores the concept of the sublime in relation to two genres that have been elaborated on extensively in literature and cinema, but only occasionally in visual art. One part of the show investigates specifically the horror sublime, an idea first developed in the 18th century by philosopher Edmund Burke. Burke characterizes the sublime as “whatever is fitted in any sort to excite ideas of pain and danger… producing the strongest emotions which the mind is capable of feeling.” The other part of the exhibition deals with the science fiction genre as it relates to the sublime, whether it be the concepts of the mathematical or dynamic sublime, the infinite sublime, vastness, uniformity, magnificence or fear of the unknown and undefined. Artist and curator Ichiro Irie invited six artists based in Mexico that strongly relate to this concept. Because of the conflicting definitions different authors give of the term ‘sublime’, he left an open ended interpretation in relation to the work of each artist. Unlike narrative film or literature which consist almost entirely of constructed realities, the work presented in this show manipulates found materials and ideas such as the human body and images from popular culture to provide a more direct and self reflexive correlation to everyday life.
