The End of Utopia

Studio La Città Gallery presents an exhibition during the 57th Venice Biennale at Palazzo Flangini with two American Artists Jacob Hashimoto and Emil Lukas. They have been invited to reflect on The End of Utopia with a site-specific work addressing a question about role of art: if at the beginning art born to indicate interpolation of nature to reach utopia, how does it change now that manmade products are dooming its viability?

Jacob Hashimoto ideated for the ground floor of Palazzo Flangini, an installation composed by 8500 black bamboo-and-paper kites suspended overhead suggesting elements of flags and firmament alike—evoking both the blunt banners of politics, and the celestial realms that transcend them.

Emil Lukas occupies the fist floor of the Palace with three separate groups of works: “Lens,” “Puddles,” and “Threads.” Lens speaks about observation and surveillance, the Puddle paintings are vast microcosmic landscapes that conjure geologic progression of time. Thread paintings, with their patterned density, create an optical illusion. The works seen together suggest a delicate atmosphere, bringing visitors in an alien landscape.