The Future is Now

When Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001 – A Space Odyssey’ was released in cinemas in 1968, it quickly came to represent a pivotal milestone in science fiction.
Set in a sleek, clinical world of Kubrick’s own design, the movie offers a speculative glimpse into a dystopian future – marked by an artificial intelligence so sophisticated that it would eventually defy its creators. “I’m sorry Dave,” HAL 9000, the sentient computer, famously tells its human operator: “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

More than 50 years after the film’s release – and against the backdrop of continuing technological advancements – Kubrick’s masterpiece has lost none of its relevance. The aesthetic universe he once orchestrated is now echoed in the data centres, international space programmes and self-driving cars of our modern times.
Which poses the question: to what extent have the futuristic visions of imaginative artists, shaped the technological designs and innovations that followed?

With the exhibition ‘I’m sorry Dave’ – on show from November 5, 2022 to January 7, 2023 – Amsterdam’s Ravestijn Gallery explores this question through works by Vincent Fournier (FR), Inez & Vinoodh (NL/US), Bownik (PL), Martina Sauter (DE) and Philippe Braquenier (BE).

Combining direct 2001 references – such as Fournier’s image of a Space Odyssey costume, or Inez & Vinoodh’s depiction of the iconic red Djinn chair – with more subtle associations, the featured works orbit playfully around the ideas and aesthetics that distinguish Kubrick’s magnum opus to this day.

For further details visit The Ravestijn Gallery