Planetarische Bauern

During the Peasants’ War, increasingly frequent incidents of severe weather and rare astrological phenomena were interpreted as divine portents – ‘astral omens’ that were widely reported in records and pamphlets of the time. In light of today’s resurgent authoritarian ideologies and an apparently renewed popular desire to escape the narratives and ideological frameworks of modernity, New York-based artist Michael Wang (born 1981 in Olney, USA) asks whether there is a contemporary equivalent to these celestial signs. What meanings might they hold for today’s world? For the opening of the exhibition, Wang will use drones to create a modern-day apparition in the sky above Moritzburg Castle. Meanwhile, in a video essay – the projection of which is distorted by a meteorite shard – he depicts engravings drawn from apocalyptic predictions published shortly before the outbreak of the Peasants’ War. A reflective arc runs through the work – from the gods of antiquity to modern space exploration.