World Art Collections Exhibition
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Alien Nation, a major touring exhibition from the ICA and ml VA, opens at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, on Tuesday 2 October and runs until Sunday 9 December. The exhibition, which features twelve International contemporary artists, uses the theme of ‘sci-fi’ to explore ideas of ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ in a vibrant and entertaining way.

“Science fiction provides a means — often witty and surprising — to talk about our (sometimes) irrational fears of those who come from different places, look different or represent different world views to our own. This is not just about racial difference but also religious, ethnic or political difference”
— Gilane Tawadros, Curator.

Much has been written about the connection between the sci-fi cinema of the I 950s and I 960s and the Cold War, where fear of invasion, communism and nuclear war was played out in films that projected the anxieties of the present onto the future. In recent years many artists have similarly used science fiction and extra-terrestrial forms as a way of exploring racial difference and as a potent metaphor for the threat of the outsider.

Alien Nation focuses on the relationship between science fiction, race and contemporary art. Specifically, the exhibition explores themes of ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ through the language and iconography of sci-fi. The artworks on display raise questions about the way in which the media can perpetuate a terror of ‘invasion’ from immigrants, asylum seekers (or any racial, cultural or ethnic ‘other’), presenting these ‘outsiders’ as the dominant threat to both family and national stability.

“We are delighted to be hosting this touring exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre. The underlying subject of the show — ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ — links closely with the Centre’s current work on diversity. We are committed to using our world art collection to help explore the kinds of ideas considered in the Alien Nation exhibition and to bringing a diverse audience to the gallery. The Sainsbury Centre’s Education and Research team is working on a number of related projects and the Centre is playing a significant role in the Arts Council’s and Museum Association’s programmes, offering a fellowship and two internships in cultural diversity over the next two years” — Nichola Johnson, Director, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.

The show encompasses film, sculpture, photography, multi-media installations and 3-D painting from twelve contemporary international artists: Laylah Ali, Hamad Butt, Ellen Gallagher & Edgar Cleijne, David Huffman, Hew Locke, Marepe, Henna Nadeem, Kori Newkirk, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Eric Wesley and Mario Ybarra Jr.

Mingling fact and fiction, science and art, Alien Nation will also include a collection of original sci-fi film posters from the 1950s to the present day, courtesy of The Reel Poster Gallery. Extracts from contemporary and archive science fiction films will also form part of this challenging exhibition that plays on our innermost fears and fantasies about the outsider.