Lenin: Icebreaker Revisited

The exhibition "Lenin: Icebreaker" premiered in 2013 aboard the decommissioned Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Lenin. Expanded with works by US-American artists for the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, the exhibition revisits the cultural consequences of the failed utopias of the 20th century, including that of artistic modernity itself. What utopian aspirations exist today? Does the Atomic Age reverberate in our post-communist times? Does the icebreaker Lenin serve as a metaphor for the fictitious machine that drives artistiv imagination geyond the antiquated paradigms of the Cold War? "Lenin: Icebreaker Revisited" explores the essence of contemporary political art, which is a witness to the rise of ultraconservative nationalisms as well as global turmoil fueled by the current economic crisis. In order to fathom the possibilities for a better future, we need to steer the icebreaker Lenin through the icy archive of dreams waiting to be salvaged. Artists: Amy Balkin, Judith Fegerl, Yevgeniy Fiks, Jim FInn, Lisa Kereszi, Marko Lulic, Lisi Raskin, Isa Rosenberger, Leonig Tishkov