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1984-2001: SCIENCE FICTION SMACK MELLON Ad Hoc Vox and Smack Mellon are pleased to invite you to 1984-2001, a panel discussion about science fiction developed in response to the utopic and dystopic elements in Smack Mellon’s current exhibitions. This panel will take place at the gallery on Sunday, November 8th at 3:00 p.m. George Orwell’s 1984 was written during the Second World War and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 was released in 1968. That these moments of cultural upheaval produced two such extreme visions of the future is hardly a surprise; sometimes referred to as speculative fiction, science fiction is premised on a radical re-imagining of the cultural moment. Whether optimistic or cautionary, any representation of a set of social conditions that differs from the author’s own are bound to that author’s aspirations for the present, making science fiction a genre often read for its political import. With futures proposed by 1984, 2001, and so many other works of science fiction now set in our past, it is also a genre that has developed into a highly codified language with easily recognized aesthetic forms. Thus, science fiction has a history subject to both scholarly scrutiny and artistic employment, and both forms of engagement can explore science fiction’s relationship to its contemporary environment, speculative possibilities, and the tropes of the genre. Ad Hoc Vox has gathered together practitioners, critics, and scholars who have studied science fiction’s role in literature, film, and architecture to discuss what possibilities science fiction offers contemporary artists. The panel’s participants are Ed Halter, Carrie Hintz, Geoff Manaugh, and Deborah Taylor. Matt Borruso will moderate the panel, which will be followed by a Q&A with the audience.
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