Grounded Outer Space People

music ensemble / artist residency / performative exhibition 

Galerie Wedding, 13.10 – 18.11.2022

»Grounded Outer Space People« is a nomadic music ensemble / artist residency tracing the relationship between transmigration, and music. The project ILYICH and Grounded Outer Space People was commissioned by the PopKultur Festival Berlin in 2021 and is ongoing.

The latest iteration of the nomadic residency / band takes shape of a performative exhibition at Galerie Wedding, Berlin. Operating in a 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 is 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. Driven through the perceptual shift from the visual to the sonic, the exhibition space and the studio operates 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« proposing 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 through Kats’ practice in 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.

Artists in residency:  Anja Jadryschnikova, Khaled Kurbeh, Jared Meier-Klodt, Hani Mojtahedy, Aiko Okamoto, Ziggy Zeitgeist, Kelly Krugman.

Special thanks to the contributing artists: Nima Séne, Helleroid, Oleksandra Monda, Yulia Vlaskina, Bastian Schmiedecke, Liam Wustrack, Ezgi Ulubayrak and Pelsho.

Curated by Solvej Helweg Ovesen

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

Further Links:
E-Flux

Further Events:

25.10.2022, 7 to 9 pm Interlude Grounded Outer Space People

26.10.2022 Radio Transmission: Notiz für die Welt danachEvent with Aiko Okamoto.

10.11.2022, 6 pm Same Page Different Corner with Anton Kats. Ukrainian musicians meet up and »Vostok 7« listening session

18.11.2022, 5 pm Exhibition tour with Solvej Helweg Ovesen and Anton Kats

18.11.2022, 7 to 9 pm Volta. Final performance and concert Grounded Outer Space People.


Credits:
Gallery Management: Dr. Ute Müller-Tischler 
Curatorial Assistance program coordination: Malte Pieper, Kathrin Pohlmann
Curatorial Assistance press and communication: Maya Smoszna
Internship: Manuel Bendig 
Set Up Support: Igor Ivanishyn
GOSP Sound System 3D Mapping: Byron Kalomamas
GOSP Sound System Carpenter: Jörg Fischer
Mittlungsradio Sound System Support: Anna-Maria Lesevic

Photography: Juan Saez
Camera: Hyejeong Yun, Takashi Kunimoto, Pascal Kanitz

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