Julia Scher
Planet Greyhound
Kunsthalle Gießen
Berliner Platz 1
35390 Gießen
February 18 – May 1, 2022
Opening: Friday, February 18, 5–7 pm
www.kunsthalle-giessen.de


Entitled Planet Greyhound, Julia Scher's solo exhibition of all new sculptural, video and installation works transforms the space of the Kunsthalle Gießen into a temporary bus station for humanoid and extraterrestrial life forms.

The title ‘Planet Greyhound’ comes from a planet that has been acquired for the exhibition and christened as such through 2027 – it is thereby promoted to an object of targeted surveillance and at the same time to a cosmic place of longing for marginalized life forms. In Scher’s work, thoughts about the motivation and implementation of existing security and surveillance mechanisms merge with reflections on groups that are mostly powerless in the face of such control.

The namesake ‘greyhound’ refers to Greyhound Lines, the USA’s largest long-distance bus company. Last winter their decommissioned buses were often converted into mobile stations for marginalised groups to keep warm. At the same time, dogs are a recurring motif in the artist's works, usually symbolizing domestication; controlled training for the benefit of the human need for security.

Watchful greyhound sculptures at the entrance and in the waiting area greet visitors who find themselves in an intergalactic bus station. Situated between Earth and the planet Greyhound, it can be viewed as a kind of "trans-state" – a transit space in which a seating area invites you to closely observe the traffic of people between the planets via video recordings and display panels.

The motivation for the logistic control and observation of the distant planet and its beings remains open. Does it serve to monitor alien and potentially threatening life forms? Is it the symptom of thriving space tourism, or is it transforming the Kunsthalle into a safe space and intergalactic layover for marginalized groups who, in the hope of a new, more peaceful coexistence beyond mechanisms of control, are embarking on a journey to the planet Greyhound?