ARGOS Centre for Art and Media Werfstraat 13 rue du Chantier 1000 Brussels Belgique
Ralo Mayer's cross-media work derives its form from a process-oriented mode of artistic knowledge-generation. This artist's main motifs include the investigation of narrative structures, the study of miniature universes and the interweaving of fiction and reality.
The exhibition entitled ... travelling through Biosphere 2, or: Anastylosis of Follies presents related large-scale installations that emerge from Mayer's research into Biosphere 2. This construction, erected in the desert near the town of Oracle in Arizona and initiated by Space Biosphere Ventures, was the first large-scale closed ecosystem, the idea being to later apply this to closed space colonies.
In the exhibition at Argos, Mayer interprets Biosphere 2 as a link between the utopian ideals of the 1960s and 70s and global transformation – a quest for alternative lifestyles that is still on the rise today. At the same time, the artist sees the failed project as a burlesque allegory of the attempt to get every aspect of life under control. It has resulted in experimental installations, in the literal sense of that term: ... travelling through Biosphere 2, or: Anastylosis of Follies represents an amalgam of graphic material, design, writings and thoughts, video, biological matter – plants, algae, shrimps and micro-organisms are all part of his work – and much more.