Humanity’s continuous quest to define the afterlife and existence beyond our planet lies at the heart of the Armenian-Lithuanian artist’s first UK solo show.
Bringing together recent work and new commissions by Andrius Arutiunian, They Tried to Count Us offers a compelling encounter with voices and visions from other worlds. The exhibition expands the artist’s ongoing investigation into representations of the underworld and cosmic phenomena across time and cultures. Arutiunian treats mythology as a form of time travel: a dark pool of knowledge from which alternative pasts and futures are presented. He draws from the materials, objects and rituals associated with these ancient practices to create offerings for future deities. Humanity’s age-old quest to understand the afterlife runs parallel to modern-day endeavours to decipher the universe. For his first solo exhibition in the UK, the artist reconstructs a fragment of an unfinished radio anechoic chamber (a room designed to absorb electromagnetic waves) from an Armenian radio telescope. Along with a series of sculptures and a new sound piece inspired by stars, the exhibition acts as a shrine to the cosmos.