MASS DESTRUCTION

SCIENCE HAS IMPACTED HUMAN HISTORY, BEYOND ANYTHING IMAGINABLE

THE SHOW STARTS WITH A TRIPTYCH BY DR. OBDULIO PILOTO, KNOWN FOR HIS EXTREME DECONSTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN FORM: MOLECULAR PORTRAITS.

DR. PILOTO’S PRACTICE INVOLVES REVISITING THE INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE IN THE PAST, TO BETTER UNDERSTAND OUR PRESENT, AND SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE. IN HIS LATEST WORK, HE LOOKS BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR, FEATURING TWO FLAGS AND A PAINTING OF DR. FRITZ HABER, THE GERMAN CHEMIST WHO RECEIVED THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY IN 1918 FOR HIS INVENTION OF THE HABER–BOSCH PROCESS, REVOLUTIONIZING AGRICULTURE, AND ALLOWING FOR AROUND FOUR MORE BILLION PEOPLE THE POSSIBILITY TO SUSTAIN LIFE IN OUR PLANET, STILL TODAY, NEARLY 50% OF THE NITROGEN FOUND IN HUMAN TISSUES ORIGINATED FROM THE HABER–BOSCH PROCESS. DR. HABER’S LOVE FOR HIS COUNTRY AND SENSE OF PATRIOTISM, LED HIM TO DEVELOP A NEW DIMENSION OF WARFARE, THE FIRST WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

THE TWO FLAGS ON VIEW, A METAPHOR FOR THE FABRICS OF SOCIETIES, PAY A RESEMBLANCE TO THE AXIS POWERS OF WW2, POWERFUL SYMBOLS THAT SHAPED THE ACTIONS OF MANY, JUXTAPOSED WITH THE MOLECULAR PORTRAIT, AN ABSTRACT AND DECONSTRUCTED VIEW OF HUMANS, BRINGING INTO QUESTION THE COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP OF INDIVIDUALITY, NATIONALITY AND HUMAN IDENTITY.

MAXIM KILDEROV IS A UKRAINIAN ARTIST WHO EVACUATED FROM NOVAYA KAKHOVKA, KHERSON, TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED BY THE RUSSIANS.

TRANSFORMING ENEMY WEAPONS OF VIOLENCE INTO WORKS OF ART – HIS ART BECAME RELICS OF A HISTORY STILL UNFOLDING HE WENT TO SLEEP IN UKRAINE AND WOKE UP IN A TOWN WITH RUSSIAN FLAGS. HIS WORK IS AN INSPIRING EXAMPLE OF ART AS A FORM OF PROTEST AND A MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATING THE IMPORTANCE OF FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE.

AFTER HIS CITY WAS OCCUPIED BY THE RUSSIAN ARMY AND UNABLE TO BUY ART MATERIALS, KILDEROV FAMOUSLY USED AN ABANDONED ENEMY’S TANK AS A CANVAS, DECLARING IT AN ART OBJECT. AN IMAGE THAT TRAVELED AROUND THE WORLD, SHARED BY THE UKRAINIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE AGAINST VIOLENCE.

THE WATERMELON COLORS USED IN SOME OF HIS CANVASES AND SCULPTURES PAY TRIBUTE TO HIS NATIVE FARMING REGION OF KHERSON, A FARMING CITY NEAR THE BLACK SEA KNOWN FOR ITS JUICY WATERMELONS, PRESIDENT ZELENSKY RECENTLY DECLARED THE WATERMELON A NATIONAL SYMBOL OF VICTORY.

INCESSANT REPETITION AND FILLED WITH HIDDEN MEANINGS AND SYMBOLISMS – A STYLE HE CALLS NEO ORNAMENTALISM

BY USING ART TO BRING ATTENTION TO THE REALITIES OF THE WAR, MAXIM KILDEROV IS HELPING TO ENSURE THAT THE STRUGGLES OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE ARE NOT FORGOTTEN, BUT AS AN ARTIST WHO LIVED IN AN OCCUPIED CITY SINCE THE FIRST DAY OF THE WAR, HE IS SOLELY CREATING AS A REASON TO EXIST, TO LIVE, AND TO SURVIVE.

LYDIA KOSTOPOULOS LIVES AND WORKS IN SCOTLAND, HER MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORK LIES IN THE INTERSECTION OF PEOPLE, TECHNOLOGY, AND NATIONAL SECURITY. HER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE SPANS THREE CONTINENTS, SEVERAL COUNTRIES, AND MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS.
SHE HAS TAUGHT IN SEVERAL INSTITUTIONS, MOST RECENTLY AT THE NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY AND AT THE JOINT SPECIAL OPERATIONS UNIVERSITY WHERE SHE LECTURED ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, SHE FAMOUSLY ADDRESSED THE UNITED NATIONS CCW GGE ON LETHAL AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS SYSTEMS.

HER NEON SIGNS “DANGER DANGER CRYPTO” EXPLORE THE IMPLICATIONS OF REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGIES BY CREATING A PARALLEL TO THE INVENTION OF ELECTRICITY AND THE CAR. CRYPTO IS A NEW INVENTION THAT IS REVOLUTIONARY LIKE ELECTRICITY WAS IN ITS TIME. JUST LIKE ELECTRICITY, PEOPLE FEARED IT WOULD CAUSE HARM, AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WERE NOT IN PLACE. LIKE CARS WITHOUT SEATBELTS, CRYPTO IS A FORCE FOR GOOD AND WITH TIME, SOCIETY WILL ADOPT IT SAFELY. HER WORK IS A REMINDER OF THE LASTEST DIMENSION OF WARFARE, CYBERWARFARE. IN HER VIEW, TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING OUR HUMAN EXPERIENCE, AND WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT

BARBI KOLM IS A GERMAN-ARGENTINIAN ARTIST LIVING AND WORKING IN BRICKELL, FL. HER ABSTRACT WORKS ARE CHAOTIC CREATIONS OF EXPERIMENTATION WITH DIFFERENT MEDIUMS, IN “WAR”, HER USE OF FEATHERS AND LEATHER REMIND US OF TRIBAL METHODS OF COMBAT AND AGGRESSION, SHE IS INSPIRED BY THE GERMAN ARTIST GERHARD RICHTER, WHO EXPLORED THEMES OF MEMORY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN A SOCIETY WITH A CONTROVERSIAL PAST AND A DIFFICULT RECOVERY.

THIS EXHIBITION OFFERS A TIMELY EXPLORATION OF OUR CHANGING WORLD ORDER: THE DECOUPLING BETWEEN THE EAST AND THE WEST, INDIVIDUALISM, AND COLLECTIVISM, AND THE POTENTIAL FUTURE OF HUMAN HISTORY.

IS WAR ROOTED DEEP IN HUMAN NATURE? CAN WE ESCAPE A THIRD-WORLD WORLD, OR IS IT INEVITABLE GIVEN HUMAN NATURE.
MASS DESTRUCTION CAN BE VIEWED ONLINE, ON VIRTUAL REALITY, AND AUGMENTED REALITY.