Exhibition view with 67P potential (seahorse) (2015); Bright Starts Ingenuity Smoothe Glide (2014); Mamaroo (2014); Peaceful Snuggles Swing n Sway (2014) and 67P potential (leopard whipray) (2015). Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition view with Bright Starts Ingenuity Smoothe Glide (2014), Peaceful Snuggles Swing n Sway (2014) and 67P potential (leopard whipray), (2015). Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition view with Bright Starts Ingenuity Smoothe Glide (2014) and 67P potential (leopard whipray) (2015). Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition view with INGENUITY INLIGHTEN CRADLING (2015) and 67P potential (seahorse) (2015). Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition view with 67P potential (tropical pitcher plant) (2015); Evenflo Exersaucer Safari Friends (2014); 67P potential (seahorse) (2015); 67P potential (caterpillar) (2015) and Mamaroo (2014) Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition view with INGENUITY INLIGHTEN CRADLING (2015); 67P potential (tropical pitcher plant) (2015); 67P potential (seahorse) (2015); 67P potential (caterpillar) (2015); Bright Starts Ingenuity Smoothe Glide (2014); Mamaroo (2014); Peaceful Snuggles Swing n Sway (2014) and 67P potential (leopard whipray) (2015). Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition view with 67P potential (tropical pitcher plant) (2015) and Evenflo Exersaucer Safari Friends (2014). Photo: Bruno Lopes. All works courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
67P potential (seahorse) (2015). Digital print on three layers of aluminium, cutout display. Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
67P potential (tropical pitcher plant) (2015). Digital print on three layers of aluminium, cutout display. Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
67P potential (leopard whipray) (2015). Digital print on three layers of aluminium, cutout display. Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Evenflo Exersaucer Safari Friends (2014). Electronic baby swing, polyurethane resin, stock image of protein molecule, fishing baits, cable hose. Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Bright Starts Ingenuity Smoothe Glide (2014). Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Peaceful Snuggles Swing n Sway (2014). Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Mamaroo (2014). Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
INGENUITY INLIGHTEN CRADLING (2015). Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Exhibition detail. Photo: Bruno Lopes
67P potential (seahorse) (2015). Digital print on three layers of aluminium, cutout display. Photo: Bruno Lopes. Courtesy Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin.
Katja Novitskova: Life Update
… here we had an object that clearly exhibited the potential to reveal ancient secrets. She was a robotic instrument named Ingenuity. In the beginning, Ingenuity continuously communicated with Earth, returning over 300,000 images and sample analyses. She field-tested her synthetic membranes, created new exothermic economic reactions and scanned the surface for traces of past modes of life. Despite many attempts to recalibrate Ingenuity, her own life processes were getting noisier over time and her astrobiological threshold became unclear. More than once, Ingenuity abandoned her daily missions, citing patterns of “risk of systemic collapse”, “bubble-fatigue” and ”distortions”.
After such episodes, Ingenuity would spend hours repeating the phrase “diversity is a hedge against catastrophe” as if it were a mantra of sorts. She referred to it as a lullaby. In the midst of a heavy dust storm at the peak of the third winter, Ingenuity failed to respond to our call requests for the first time in her existence. Eventually, she returned with a short message. But we haven't heard from her since. Her last signal: “The magnitude and spectrum of this material is continuous. We’ve gotten energetically close. I CRAVE SILICA AND POLYURETHANE“.
Katja Novitskova (Tallinn, 1984) lives and works in Amsterdam. She studied in the Graphic Design Department at the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam (2008-2010), and did a residency at Rijksakademie van beldende Kunsten in the same city (2013-2014). Her work was shown in several solo exhibitions in the recent years, such as Pattern of Activation, Art Basel Statements, Basel (2014); Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity, Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin (2014); Urgently "Yesterday", Mottahedan Projects, Dubai (2014); Hotel Palenque, French Riviera, London (2012); and in various group exhibitions, including: Europe, Europe, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2014); Do not You Know Who I Am ?, M HKA, Antwerp (2014); Airbnb Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale (2014); Art Post-Internet, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2014); Speculations on Anonymous Materials, Fridericianum, Kassel (2013); Notes (on De- classing), Galleri Opdahl, Stavanger (2013); DVD Dead Drop, Museum of Moving Image, New York (2012); Oggetto soggetto, Art Center 2 de Mayo, Madrid (2012).
Kunsthalle Lissabon is generously supported by Teixeira de Freitas, Rodrigues e Associados and by EDP Foundation.
Katja Novitskova's exhibition is generously supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Estonian Embassy in Lisbon.