Scenes, Visions and Fragments from an Alternative History
1st March – 16th June 2018
What would the past have been like in the Middle Ages if the future had happened before?
Inspired by this statement, TECHNO MEDIOEVO: Age of Future Reloaded presents the work of a contemporary art collective. Many of the works on display have been created specifically for this exhibition – as a conceptual riposte to this question, and as a physical response to the environment of the medieval St John’s Gate. The exhibition challenges perceptions of the medieval period as a time of limited innovation and intellectual curiosity. Instead, the artworks introduce technology, mechanisation and scientific experimentation to develop a narrative that is both surprising and provocative.
In exhibiting modern and conceptual art alongside the historic artefacts in the galleries of the Museum of the Order of St John, the viewer is given the opportunity to reflect both on the ancient and the modern. The juxtaposition of contemporary pieces with the Museum’s permanent collections provokes a dynamic dialogue that allows the viewer to explore new intellectual links. The response of the contemporary artists behind TECHNO MEDIOEVO: Age of Future Reloaded, to an historic, contemporary, and futuristic influence, adds a further dimension to the place of technology in museums, which by their very nature are often focused primarily on the past.
This exhibition in supported by The Sir Denis Mahon Charitable Trust, which seeks to promote intellectual curiosity, academic debate, and ongoing art historical research. The exhibition is curated by Professor Marcello Pecchioli, Curator, Global Strategist and leader of the Bologna-based association “Age of Future”, a brotherhood of artists that he formed in the mid 1990s, and whose works feature in this exhibition. Pecchioli has worked in collaboration with Flat Time House, the gallery and archive in the former home of the post-war conceptual artist John Latham (1921-2006), whose “Language of Time” remains a very important inspiration for innovative, experimental, and avant-garde art.
To give greater context to the exhibition, a documentary has been produced by The Sir Denis Mahon Charitable Trust, which reveals the inspirations behind each of the artists’ works.