For her second solo show in the gallery Aleksandra Mir presents a series of collages that combine religious iconography with that of space travel. “If angels and astronauts share the same sky”, she asks, “Isn’t it time they were introduced?”

Infinite space within an infinite nothingness. Undefinable spirit within unlimited thought. Icons and insatiable quests. Human curiosity has a need for a context within which to exist. Religion was science as science is now religion. The justification of our lust and thrust for the infinite, away from our sensory paradise, comparable to the search for the deepest recesses of our minds, are both ways of seeking the answers to creation, purpose and demise. Religion, as a system of control, has come close to its great rival throughout history – the laws of physics that govern our universe. ‘When will miracles cease?’ – The modes of technology that we produce are ingenious to the children of earth but woefully inadequate adaptations of our unlimited imagination. ‘Why are we here?’ – Spiritual answers are equally unsatisfactory compared to the power of such simple questions. The answer may lie in convergence. Technology may have to wait for the power of the human brain to fully develop its (super)natural abilities. Will the technologies that are then produced be miraculous in that they may not require material substance to work but a faith, a belief in laws of physics so subtle than matter itself cannot withstand their logic? Will they be based in technology so discreet that it will be indistinguishable from the very fabric of the universe and all that is created within it? When we look at science and religion, are we looking at the same technology at different levels of evolution? Is humankind always to be polarised and thus paralysed?

Mark Baker

Aleksandra Mir was born in Lubin, Poland, in 1967. She has been showing on international exhibitions, among many others, currently at 53th Biennale of Venezia; as well as in Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Kunsthaus Zurich, Institute of Contemporary Art London, SMAK Ghent, PS1/MOMA New York, Whitney Biennial New York.

Please contact the gallery if you wish to receive additional information. www.galeriajoanprats.com Tel. +34 93 216 0284.