Looking back on science fiction stories of the 20th century, in 2021 the city would no longer consist of only a two-dimensional infrastructure, self-flying cars would have become commonplace and a three-dimensional network of roads would be a matter of course. Life on Mars would be possible for those beings that have decided to live in a new world. Almost 50 years ago, the newly founded "Club of Rome" published the report "The Limits to Growth", a study on the future of the world economy, which criticised the increasing consumption and exploitation of natural resources by humans. The balance could only be restored through measures to protect the environment, capital growth and birth control. In 2001 - A Space Odyssey, the on-board computer HAL 9000 develops a consciousness and even then told of the irrepressibility of artificial intelligence. From today's perspective, these and many other examples lose none of their relevance, but actually tell of how people imagined the future 50 years ago. On 20 July this year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos set off into space and called for people to do the same.
We compare the past with the present and notice that very few innovations have been realised yet. Science fiction allows us to constantly travel back and forth in time, no matter where we start from.
 
In the exhibition "Science-Ex - timeless travels", we set out in search of a contemporary narrative from the future and invite young artists to create a cosmos that brings future relics into the now, that also enables supernatural communication and thus creates a local contemporary sci-fi reference.

Alexandre Bavard has been exploring a wide variety of media since the beginning of his artistic practice. Influenced by graffiti culture, he explores his environment, creating installations from found objects in combination with everyday building materials, which are usually activated with performances. He will also produce a site-specific installation for Science-Ex during his stay in Dortmund.

www.alexandrebavard.com​​​​​​​

The concept of "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX" is based on a self-made isolation tank and the experience of sensory deprivation, i.e. the deprivation of any sensory stimuli. The artwork "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX" consists of an isolation tank filled with warm salt water. Till Bödeker studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in the class of Rita McBride. His artistic practice is concerned with connections between questions of concept, object and (self-)experience.

www.tillboedeker.art​​​​​​​

Kerima Elfaza is a 3D fashion designer. Her concepts are ironic and socially critical at the same time. She also works on the fields of technology, textile art and performance. Her works play with digitality by exploring the virtual in the form of its possible materialities on textiles and the associated use.

The sculptures of Tristan Ulysses Hutgens appear to be relics of distant planets and times. Their materials play with light and shadow, the surfaces oscillate between pristine rawness and pure brilliance, thus distorting the reference to their actual temporality. Tristan Ulysses Hutgens, born in 1994, lives and works in Düsseldorf, Meerbusch and Paris. He studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, where he earned the additional title of master student with Prof. Didier Vermeiren in 2018.

www.tristanulysseshutgens.com​​​​​​​

Benoit Ménard transforms spaces into walk-in stage sets inspired by both science fiction and scientific facts. By means of sounds, light and movement, the spaces gain an uncanny liveliness. He is also developing a new installation for the Künstlerhaus.

www.benoitmenard.com​​​​​​​

In her works, Neda Saeedi addresses the relationship between the human body and architecture. In her installations, she works with data, facts and combines them with narrative elements. In doing so, she experiments with a wide variety of materials and production techniques. She has been living in Berlin since 2012 and studied with Hito Steyerl at the UdK Berlin, among others.

www.nedasaeedi.com​​​​​​​

Kathi Schulz studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and graduated in 2020 as a master student of Prof. Stefan Kürten. In her artistic work, she explores the meaning of contemporary painting, always working at the intersection of art and technology.

www.kathischulz.com​​​​​​​

The conceptual artist, who was born in Moers and lives in Düsseldorf, deals in her work Outer Space Transmitter with the attempt to make contact with extraterrestrials, which science has so far only done through the language of mathematics. In doing so, she takes a different approach: "I try to communicate via the universal language of art, because I believe that every intelligent civilisation has the capacity for reflection and abstraction and must be understood as a creative form of life.“ Therefore, it tries to get in touch with extraterrestrials by means of electromagnetic art.

www.monaschulzek.de

Conceptually, the artist is dedicated to the motif of "hikers". "How can you paint mountain landscapes in the 21st century and add something to it that makes it more manageable?", Uptmoor has asked himself and has chosen a classical subject like the figure on the back in his very special way, whereby figure and relationship to landscape are interestingly chosen. The figures seem alien to their environment, or perhaps the environment to you?

www.ferdinand-uptmoor.com

Di Yang studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and lives and works in Berlin. His video work Safe Word, created as a clip of a fictional sci-fi film from the 1960s, tells a story that takes place in the Mars immigration office. It is about the eldest son from a middle-class family who moved to Mars alone as a second-generation immigrant. When he applies for an extension of his residency status, he becomes the subject of abuse of power by the immigration officer.