Artists: Forms of the Shadow – Adrián Villar Rojas in conversation with Bettina Spoerr

The End of Imagination III is a newly reconfigured installation for The Secession. It features a recreation of the famous 1969 moon landing site, upon which two lunar glitched pillars (over which two flags are draped), are placed, as well as a NASA Lunar Exploration Robot. Via this tableaux, Villar Rojas wonders how the Moon, Mars, or any other extra-terrestrial landscapes brought to us by interplanetary conquest will affect our past, present and future monumentality and its memorialization. What will happen when our terrestrial fictions, cementing nations and identities, travel to outer space? 

In this episode, the artist shares his thoughts and motivations that inspired this impressive and meticulously executed sculpture. More

The conversation was held on September 20, 2024 as part of the exhibition:

Forms of the Shadow
Curated by Sunjung Kim
20.9. – 17.11.2024

With Nilbar Güreş; Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian; Kyungah Ham; Young In Hong; ikkibawiKrrr; Jane Jin Kaisen; Joon Kim; Lee Bul; Lee Kit; Mikael Levin; Minouk Lim; Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho; Adrián Villar Rojas; Ramiro Wong; Haegue Yang; Tomoko Yoneda; Jin-me Yoon; Min Yoon

Adrián Villar Rojas (Rosario, AR, 1980. Lives and works nomadically) conceives long-term projects, collectively and collaboratively produced, that take the shape of large-scale and site-specific installations, both imposing and fragile. Within his research, which mixes sculpture, drawing, video, literature and performative traces, the artist explores the conditions of humanity at risk, on the verge of extinction or already extinct, tracing the multi-species boundaries of a post-anthropocene time folded in on itself, in which past, present and future converge. 

Bettina Spörr is a curator at the Secession and was instrumental in bringing the exhibition to fruition.

The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.

Programmed by the board of the Secession

Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed (2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Audio Editor: Paul Macheck
Executive Producer: Bettina Spörr