Ærø Electric Cars, courtesy of the C0 2 E - Race
AUTOTOPIA: Cars for a Better
Tomorrow
a project of SEA (Social Environmental
Aesthetics)
April 8 - 30, 2011
Special Reception and Electric
Car Showcase:
Featuring electric cars in Exit Art’s Main
Gallery
Saturday, April 23, 2011 / 12-6pm
NEW YORK –In celebration of Earth Day on April 22, Exit Art is
pleased to announce a celebration of the electric car through an exhibition that
documents its erratic history and an electric car showcase. AUTOTOPIA:
CARS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW, a project of SEA (Social
Environmental Aesthetics), focuses on the history of the electric car
in connection with political and environmental factors that have revolutionized
the methods and technologies of
transit.
The first electric car, made over 100 years ago, was invented soon
after the combustion engine vehicle (the kind of engines we use today) was
developed as a new way of powering automobiles. Today, electric cars must be
seen as serious alternatives to the gasoline powered-vehicles that are depleting
fossil fuel supplies, polluting the environment, and exacerbating our dependence
on foreign oil. Cars are now being designed to enhance our lives – through
the integration of digital communication systems – and improve our future, by
providing a solution to our energy crisis . Wireless Internet allows
vehicles to connect and share data on traffic patterns, intelligently
coordinating movements and keeping drivers connected to social networks . The
reinvention of the automobile, and the infrastructures that make it possible,
will not be easy – but it will be essential.
This exhibition coincides with Earth Day, and is organized
concurrently with the CO2 E-Race, the culminating event of New York City’s Earth
Day celebration. For more information on Earth Day New York, visit http://www.earthdayny.org/. Initiated in
2008, the CO2 E-Race (A Race for Climate Awareness) increases public awareness
of global climate changes using CO2-friendly cars as a way to spread the
message. The New York E-Race is a parade of electric cars through the streets of
Manhattan; connected to GPS devices, their route can be tracked online and on
the Toshiba jumbo screen in Times Square. The “E” shape formed by the parade
draws attention to Earth Day and the electric car as the future of
transportation, encouraging the public to “erase” climate change. For more
information on the CO2 E-Race, visit http://www.co2erace.org/
Organized by Herb Tam, Associate Curator and Lauren Rosati, Assistant
Curator.
ELECTRIC CAR
SHOWCASE
Saturday, April 23, 2011 / 12-6pm
ONE DAY
ONLY!
Following the CO2 E- Race, Exit Art will exhibit several participating
electric cars in a showcase format. Tesla Motors will be showing an electric,
zero-emissions Orange Roadster, which gets 245 miles per charge and goes from 0
to 60mph in 3.7 seconds. A converted electric DeLorean will also be on
view.
2pm: Jacob Fuglsang Mikkelsen, the organizer of the CO2
E-Race, will give a brief talk about the origins of the project and the
environmental issues it seeks to address.
ABOUT EXIT ART
Exit Art is an independent vision of contemporary culture. We
are prepared toreact immediately to important issues that affect our lives. We
do experimental, historical and unique presentations of aesthetic, social,
political and environmental issues. We absorb cultural differences that become
prototype exhibitions. We are a center for multiple disciplines. Exit Art is a
29-year-old cultural center in New York City founded by Directors Jeanette
Ingberman and artist Papo Colo, that has grown from a pioneering alternative art
space, into a model artistic center for the 21st century committed to supporting
artists whose quality of work reflects the transformations of our culture. Exit
Art is internationally recognized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness and
consistent ability to anticipate the newest trends in the culture. With a
substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in
diverse media, Exit Art is always
changing.
ABOUT SEA (Social-Environmental
Aesthetics)
SEA is a diverse multimedia exhibition program that addresses
social and environmental concerns. It assembles artists, activists, scientists
and scholars through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and
lecture series that communicate international activities concerning
environmental and social activism. It provides a vehicle through which the
public can be made aware of socially- and environmentally-engaged work, and a
forum for collaboration among artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the
public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join
together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives. Conceived by Exit
Art Co-Founder / Artistic Director Papo
Colo.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
General exhibition support provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for
the Visual Arts; Bloomberg LP; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation;
Pollock-Krasner Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn; and public funds from the New York
State Council on the Arts.
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EXIT ART 475 Tenth Avenue (at
36th Street), New York, NY 10018
212-966-7745 / www.exitart.org / A, C, E to 34th Street / Penn
Station
Open Tue.–Thu., 10am–6pm; Fri., 10am–8pm; and Sat.,
12–6pm.
Closed Sun. and Mon. $5 suggested
donation.
