In the 100th year since the birth of pioneering artist Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 鈥� May 12, 2008), this exhibition highlights a selection of Stoned Moon prints from the Haggerty鈥檚 collection alongside the work of three active artists: Ogl谩la Lak葻贸ta performance artist, visual artist, and composer Kite; artist, geographer, and author Trevor Paglen; and Milwaukee-based multimedia artist Jason S. Yi. Rauschenberg鈥檚 color lithographs spark a conversation about humanity鈥檚 technological ambitions across the modern era that is brought into our current moment through these artist鈥檚 recent work. Kite鈥檚 dyed deer hides embroidered with Lak葻贸ta geometric semiotics are meditations on black holes, functioning also as sonic scores. Paglen鈥檚 sumptuous photographs capture unidentified flying objects both in and beyond Earth鈥檚 atmosphere, raising questions about surveillance by human and non-human actors. And Yi鈥檚 installation of Red-crowned cranes cast from mulberry pulp, forms a towering column of the endangered birds that have found a resurgent nesting ground in the de-militarized zone separating North Korea and South Korea.
For his large-scale Stoned Moon lithographs, Rauschenberg drew on his experience witnessing the Apollo 11 lunar launch, together with a range of popular imagery and NASA-provided photographs to reflect on a new sense of human possibility brought about by a leap in technological potential. Through their work, the three contemporary artists featured in this exhibition consider the ethics of technological innovation and its varied outcomes. By taking up current issues such as covert surveillance, humans鈥� relationships with the non-human, and the upspring of new life under repressive conditions, these artists prompt us to reconceive the dividing lines between what we know and what we believe, between human and non-human agency, between our impact on nature and its response.
This Side of the Stars: Rauschenberg鈥檚 Stoned Moon in the Company of Kite, Paglen, and Yi is curated by Jennifer Johung, PhD, Professor of Contemporary Art and Architecture, and Director of the Center for 21st-Century Studies, University of Wisconsin鈥揗ilwaukee, and Kirk Nickel, PhD, Haggerty Museum Curator of European Art.
Support for this exhibition is generously provided by Friends of the Haggerty Museum of Art Forward Funders and the Martha and Ray Smith, Jr. Endowment Fund.
Images left to right: Robert Rauschenberg, Trust Zone (Stoned Moon), 1969, Lithograph, 40 x 33 inches, Ed. 22/65, published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, Collection of the Haggerty Museum of Art, 黑料论坛; Trevor Paglen, Near Dugway Proving Grounds (undated), 2024, Dye sublimation on aluminum print, 32 x 40 inches, Edition of 3 plus 1 artist鈥檚 proof, Courtesy of the Artist, Altman Siegel, San Francisco, and Pace Gallery, Copyright The Artist; Kite (b. 1990), come through, 2025, Beadwork and embroidery on deer hide, 47 x 39 x 1/2 inches, 漏 Kite. Courtesy the artist and Bockley Gallery. Photo by Rik Sferra; Jason S. Yi, Accidental Paradise, 2025, Mulberry paper fiber, aluminum, wire, wood, 288 x 52 x 25 inches, Photo courtesy of the artist, Copyright of the artist
