Installation view, Alienarium 5
(Picture: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Serpentine)The influence of science fiction on contemporary art is explosively proliferating, like the Martian red weed in H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds. Everywhere, there are references to authors like Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler and J.G. Ballard, all writers whose work allows us to imagine the desperate humanitarian and environmental realities of the present and recent past through fantasy.
One artist who has explored this territory relentlessly over the last 30 years is Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. She, along with her regular collaborators Philippe Parreno and Pierre Huyghe, emerged in the 1990s, and speculative fiction, whether in the form of books or films, has been a constant touchstone for their work. They’re also united by a profound interest in exhibition histories and redefining how art is experienced.
