WEDNESDAY JAN 23 - MONDAY APR 1, 2013

Presented by the
Austrian Cultural Forum New York

>> OPEN DAILY, 10 AM - 6 PM. FREE ADMISSION.

Artists: DESIRE MACHINE COLLECTIVE, THOMAS HIRSCHHORN, MATHIAS KESSLER, SUPERFLEX, MIERLE LADERMAN UKELES, LOIS WEINBERGER
Curators: DIETER BUCHHART & ARNAUD GERSPACHER
Curatorial Advisor: MATHIAS KESSLER

This exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York gathers together different artistic reactions to the alienating effects of the unfettered global exploitation of resources, and offers insight into the denial and myopia of current political responses to what increasingly appears to be a perpetual crisis. [UN]NATURAL LIMITS focuses on the environmental relays sent back in response to our human activities (or failures to act), while giving voice to various groups, thinkers, and artists who seek to interrupt narcissistic and destructive self-involvements in society.

The exhibition, which was curated by the Austrian-American team of Dieter Buchhart and Arnaud Gerspacher, maintains a deep ambiguity towards the modernist legacies of endless expansion and selective prosperity as our social and political systems slowly begin to confront the limits of growth and sustainability. Each artist or collective poses a challenge to the perceived limits that condition our understanding of the world: on the one hand, the limited prospect for action, compassion, and change, while on the other, the limitless drive for resources and capital in all its forms.  A reversal is necessary: it is compassion that should be limitless.

[Image: Thomas Hirschhorn, Resistance-Subjecter (2011)]