Abstract/Summary

Annals of the Twenty-Ninth Century is a group exhibition of newly commissioned work by artists who worked at Wysing during 2013 as part of our artists' residency programme: Anna Barham, James Beckett, Keren Cytter, Cécile B. Evans, Michael Dean, Gustav Metzger, Rupert Norfolk, David Osbaldeston, Seb Patane, Charlotte Prodger and Florian Roithmayr. The title of the exhibition is taken from writer Andrew Blair’s early 1874 science fiction novel of the same name; a wildly speculative intergalactic future forecast. Although the book's predictions, including the creation of ‘a hundred different zoological armies’, may now appear wide of the mark, they are a useful indicator of the mores of the time. The text stands in interesting contrast to 2013 Wysing residency artist Gustav Metzger, whose influential writings and activist activities from the 1950’s onwards have been prescient of our current concerns. Whereas Blair suggested passive spiritual change, Metzger advocates decisive responsive action.