PITTSBURGH.- Life on Mars includes works by 40 emerging and established artists from 17 countries. As the pre-eminent international survey of contemporary art in North America, the 55th exhibition in the 112-years-old series will continue the historic legacy set forth by previous Carnegie Internationals in presenting new and compelling works by artists from around the world.
"Carnegie Museum of Art has long played an important role among American museums with its presentation of the International," said Richard Armstrong, the Henry J. Heinz II director of the museum.
"For more than a century, the Carnegie International has brought the world to Pittsburgh----introducing the challenging works of global artists, attracting visitors from outside the region, and contributing significant acquisitions to the museum's collection for the enjoyment of all," said William E. Hunt, chairman of the Board of Carnegie Museum of Art. "It is a tremendous asset that reflects the spirit of our past, present, and future."
Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International Artists: Doug Aitken, Kai Althoff,
Mark Bradford, Cao Fei, Vija Celmins, Phil Collins, Bruce Conner, Peter Fischli, Ryan Gander, Daniel Guzman, Thomas Hirschhorn, Richard Hughes, Mike Kelley, Friedrich Kunath, Maria Lassnig, Sharon Lockhart, Mark Manders, Barry McGee, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Matthew Monahan, Rivane Neuenschwander, Noguchi Rika, Manfred Pernice, Susan Philipz, Wilhelm Sasnal, Thomas Schutte, Ranjani Shettar, David Shrigley, Paul Sietsema, Rudolf Stingel, Katja Strunz, Paul Thek, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Andro Wekua, Richard Wright, Yang Haegue,
Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International, explores the important, yet continually perplexing, question of what it means to be human in the world today. Each artist brings a unique outlook to the question of humanity's response to a world in which global events challenge and seem to threaten our everyday existence. Included in the exhibition will be some 200 works in diverse media, from painting, sculpture, and drawing to animation, film, installation, and performance.
"For the first time in 112 years the exhibition has a title other than Carnegie International," said Fogle. "Life on Mars is very much a poetic gesture in terms of thinking about our place in the universe as humans. Are we alone in the universe? Do aliens exist? Or are we, ourselves, the strangers in our own worlds? To me contemporary art is as much about coming to terms with our own world as it is about creating a set of worlds parallel to those that we walk in everyday. The thematic premise behind the show has to do with the idea of the intimate moments in our daily life that we miss by walking through our worlds and not seeing what is right in front of us. It also has to do with the more infinite sense of being part of the larger universe and finding ourselves on the inside and looking out. All of the artists participating in the 2008 Carnegie International have been chosen because their work conveys this sensibility."
