The Apartment is pleased to announce “Superstars Are Fading”, a new body of work by Maria Antelman. The title of the exhibition is a quote from a Robert Smithson essay, originally published in Artforum in 1967, and refers to the arid rationalization of the urban landscape in times of technological acceleration, and to a notion of clichéd utopia that comes with it.

Maria Antelman is best known for her videos of absurd futuristic scenarios. Shot in an experimental way, reminiscent of Chris Marker’s La Jetée (1962), her videos are visual collages comprising of photographs paired with odd soundtracks. They convey a sense of uneasiness largely accentuated by the fragmented narratives and the loosening of linguistic barriers.

“Superstars Are Fading” is the first exhibition that the artist has chosen to focus on her primary material and is presenting a series of new photographs initially inspired by the various NASA sites that she has gained access to in the last few years. These sites, which once embodied the collective dreams and challenges of the 60s in relation to space exploration, now seem “entropic snapshots of that lustrous monument” (Robert Smithson). Antelman’s large-scale photographs document the melancholy over the abandoned ideals that could have transformed post-industrial capitalism.

Other works in the show are critical of the fetishization of technology, yet they endorse the possibilities of a democratic humanism through technology. By appropriating existing black and white NASA photographs of moonscapes, Antelman brings to surface the need to explore otherness, difference and heterogeneity and to configure new belief systems.

One of the most successful young Greek artists, US based Maria Antelman (b. 1971) has recently held solo exhibitions at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Centre, Buffalo, NY (2009), The War Museum, Athens (2008) and Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco (2008). Recent group exhibitions include ‘Solaris’, curated by Cecilia Alemani at Giò Marconi, Milan (2009), ‘What If?’ curated by Christina Petrinou, at the Greek State Museum in Thessaloniki (2008-9), and ‘Bay Area Now’ at Yerba Buena Centre of Contemporary Art, San Francisco. Her work has been featured and reviewed in Flash Art, zingmagazine, and artforum.com. On the occasion of her exhibition at The Apartment, Athens, an interview with the artist will be published in the March issue of ART PAPERS. The exhibition “Stars Are Fading” continues through February 6, 2010. The opening reception is on Monday, January 4, 9pm, in the presence of the artist. For further information and press images, please contact the gallery on 211-401 9727. Gallery hours are Friday & Saturday 12-8, or by appointment