Noxious Sector Collective exhibits Wet Nurses at Welcome Back Ye Annunaki show at Open Space Victoria, 2012
The Noxious Sector Collective features Sherry Tompalski’s “Wet Nurses” at the Welcome Back Ye Annunaki show at Open Space Gallery in Victoria, British Columbia in November 2012
The Noxious Sector Collective – Welcome Back Ye Annunaki Show – Curated by Ted Hiebert & Doug Jarvis
Welcome Back Ye Annunaki merges inquiry about home and hospitality with speculation on the ancient alien theories of Zacharia Sitchin and others, who claim that humanity is a product of alien intervention, genetically engineered by a race called the Annunaki.
According to Sitchin the story of the Annunaki is engraved on the clay tablets of the ancient Sumerian people, along with details of the planet they come from, called Nibiru or Planet X. According to the myth, Nibiru is on a long elliptical orbit that brings it into proximity with our solar system only once every 3,600 years.
If the story proves true, the winter solstice of 2012 may mark the return of the Annunaki, as Nibiru re-enters proximity to the Earth. Welcome Back Ye Annunaki invites gestures of hospitality–host families willing to open their homes, hearts and imaginations, to guests from another world. In the spirit of cultural exchange, this exhibition seeks to bring together communities–real and imaginary–in a celebration of home and Earthly hospitality.
Welcome Back Ye Annunaki at Open Space Gallery Victoria from Nov. 16, 2012 – Dec. 21, 2012 – Participating artists
Sherry TompalskiCindy Baker & Megan Morman
Katie Bethune-Leamen
Marlaina Buch & Ross Macaulay
Roy Green
Robert Gallup & Josh Kopel
Karen Hibbard Kruno Jost
Serena Kataoka
Robin Kirkpatrick
Kegan McFadden
Mary-Anne McTrowe
Ella Morton
Ryan Park
IO Sound
Shawn Shepherd
Rhonda Usipiuk
Christine Walde
How would you host an imaginary friend, a special guest from an alien world returning to Earth after a 3600 year journey? What would you make them to eat? Where would you set them up in your house to sleep? What kind of gift would you give them to welcome them to your home?
There is a curious version of the human story that comes from the pseudo-archeologist, Zecharia Sitchin, who claims that humanity is a product of alien intervention, genetically engineered by a race called the Annunaki. Sitchin claims that the story of the Annunaki is engraved on the clay tablets of the ancient Sumerian people, along with details of the planet they come from, called Nibiru or Planet X. According to Sumerian myth, Nibiru is on a long elliptical orbit that brings it into proximity with our solar system only once every 3,600 years. If the Sumerian myths prove correct, the winter solstice of 2012 may mark the return of the Annunaki, as Nibiru re-enters proximity to the Earth. The science and the story may be contested–but we might nonetheless wonder what it might mean if these gods of ancient times returned to a world they helped to create–even if such a story exists only in our imaginations.
Welcome Back Ye Annunaki invites gestures of hospitality–host families willing to open their homes, hearts and imaginations, to guests from another world. One might think of an ancient alien as an imaginary friend waiting to be made, an ethereal companion to whom one might extend a spirit of Earthly generosity and community. The idea of hosting ancient aliens is–in this way–a questioning of our own personal space, speculating on what it means to make it accessible to others, and in so doing expose us to a larger imaginary community. This act of hospitality is meant as a way to reveal to us, and our own community, the biases and assumptions that we hold close to our heads and hearts, as our ways of being in the world. In the spirit of cultural exchange, this exhibition seeks to bring together communities–real and imaginary–in a celebration of home and Earthly hospitality.
Welcome Back Ye Annunaki is a project built on the idea of welcoming back our alien ancestors, inviting gestures of hospitality from members of the community who might like to welcome an Annunaki into their home. 18 artists from around the world have responded to the call for hospitality by creating projects that engage the Annunaki myth in their own creative ways. Cindy Baker & Megan Morman created a brothel designed to service the needs of alien visitors; Ella Morton created a set of intergalactic calling cards where visitors can leave a message for the Annunaki; Mary-Anne McTrowe hosted a potluck; Serena Kataoka built a sensory deprivation chamber in her bedroom with a live-stream feed to web. Others responded in their own ways too–each artist evoking the spirit of hospitality as it relates to the question of hosting an unknown visitor.
Welcome Back Ye Annuanki. This exhibition is our way of welcoming you back–by extending the gesture of hospitality to include others who might also like to welcome a visitation–whether by aliens, the imaginary, or otherwise unknown aspects of life as we know (and don’t know) it.
Doug Jarvis, MFA and Ted Hiebert, PhD
Welcome Back Ye Annunaki! – Open Space Gallery – Victoria BC – Nov 16-Dec 21, 2012
According to Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010), an Azerbaijani-American amateur archaeologist, a race of aliens is about to arrive back here on Earth this year after an extended absence. Sitchin’s reading of ancient Sumerian scripts and mythology reveal the existence of the Annunaki, inhabitants of Nibiru, an undiscovered planet on a 3,600 year-long orbit. The Annunaki first visited Earth 450,000 years ago in search of minerals, but when their miners rebelled, the Annunaki were forced to genetically engineer a slave race. Humans.
Doug Jarvis, MFA and Ted Hiebert, PhD are the founding members of Noxious Sector, a collaborative art project known for performance hauntings (including an FB campaign to haunt Stephen Harper) and for organizing the World Telekinesis Competition. They are curating an exhibit that asks and suggests an answer to the question: how would we play host to our own alien creators, the Annunaki? With food, shelter and gifts, of course.
Seventeen artists from Canada, the U.S. and the Czech Republic are participating in the show, each with a creative and unique approach to the idea of welcoming strangers to our planet. As part of Open Space’s HomeStay project, a series of Circle Ceremonies will be led by Gerry Adams, a Kwakwaka’wakw elder. Welcome Back Ye Annunaki! is part of a larger ongoing celebration and investigation into issues related to cultural exchange and symbiosis.
Christine Clark
SHERRY PAINTS 