MARCO BRAMBILLA

Approximations of Utopia coincides with the Queens Museum’s celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair, titled Peace Through Understanding, that took place in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The Unisphere, designed by Gilmore D. Clarke and donated by U.S. Steel, was the icon of the Fair and remains the world’s largest sphere. It featured three rings representing the space age achievements of Yuri Gagarin, John Glenn, and Telstar 1, and stood as a monument to America’s success in the space race before Neill Armstrong’s moon landing. Corporate pavilions dominated the Fair, presenting innovations through educational demonstrations, theater, and exhibitionary displays. Ford’s “Magic Skyway,” for example, was a journey through Earth’s history, including animatronic dinosaurs and dioramas, and human evolution, viewed from inside a brand-new Ford Mustang on a moving track. Visions of cities, travel, and technology of the future were foundational for many pavilions, including those sponsored by General Electric, NASA, New York City, and Bell Systems, among many others.

Marco Brambilla is a London-based artist known for his elaborate recontextualization of popular and found imagery, as well as his pioneering use of digital imaging technologies in video installation and art. Brambilla’s work has been internationally exhibited and is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum (New York); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; ARCO Foundation (Madrid); and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington D.C). Notable shows include New Museum, New York; Santa Monica Museum of Art (Retrospective); Seoul Biennial, Korea; Broad Art Museum; and Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, Le Centquatre-Paris in France. Brambilla has worked with Creative Time and Art Production Fund in New York to present public art installations, including his Nude Descending Staircase No.3 presented at the Oculus world trade center during Frieze New York. Notable collaborations include 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, an opera by Marina Abramović first presented at the Opéra National de Paris, France, Pélleas et Mélisande, presented by the Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp, Belgium; and King Size, a 16k on 16k video collage first presented at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Brambilla is a recipient of the Tiffany Comfort Foundation and Tiffany Colbert Foundation awards.