OH NO! NOT AGAIN…

The last few decades have brought us closer to an apocalyptic reality. Burning coasts, a global pandemic, severe droughts and catastrophic flooding, the privatization of outer space, fragile interdependence and finite natural resources, megalomaniac heads of state, the death of the Queen. Capitalism has failed us, as neoliberalism’s promises of limitless growth and prosperity have self-cannibalized. Humanity sits idly on the sidelines, anxiously sipping from glass straws pulled out of sustainable tote bags fabricated from recycled plastic bottles, secretly praying for a way out of here, ideally on the fast track. 

Meanwhile, Mary-Audrey Ramirez’s critters remain steady on their Worldbuilding course, paving a cognitive yet simultaneously dissociative pathway-as-workaround to the madness that is daily life on Earth, one insectoid at a time. They multiply, forming armies of otherworldly ants and crows and bugs: creatures not fully recognizable as animals, but more closely resembling aliens, sewn from from slick, glossy latex, a slime-like material oozing from their seams. Their eyes are big and bulbous, almost endearing. The critters in Ramirez’s work serve as ambassadors from elsewhere, suggesting with their presence: the truth is out there / another world is possible / beam me up, Scotty, providing an elixir for the constant anxiety more recently known as life on this planet. 

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The Luxembourg Institute for Artistic Research is pleased to present Ramirez’s work in a solo exhibition at 63 Orchard Street, running from September 16 to November 12th. “Oh no! Not again…” features a signature critter extended from the gallery wall, suspended in the center of the space, looking out to the Orchard Street passersby and the world beyond its glass vitrine. The exhibition takes place during Ramirez’s 6-month residency in New York at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in Bushwick, from July-December 2022. 

The work can be viewed Monday-Sunday from 9 AM to 7pm. To book an appointment with the curators or artist, please email contact@liar-nyc.com.

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Mary-Audrey Ramirez (b. 1990, Luxembourg) studied under Thomas Zipp at the University of the Arts in Berlin from 2010 to 2016. In 2019 she was the recipient of the prestigious Edward Steichen Award in Luxembourg for her textile-based sculptural and pictorial works. Her work has been shown in numerous national and international group and solo exhibitions, 2017 at Kai 10 in Düsseldorf and at Haus Mödrath, Kerpen, 2020 at Dortmunder Kunstverein, 2021 at Ludwig Forum Aachen, upcoming solo exhibitions in 2023 at Kunsthalle Giessen and at Casino Luxembourg Forum d’Art Contemporain. (TEXT CREDIT: petra martinetz)