Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present the opening reception of Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media and the Arts on Friday, March 7 at 7:00pm. The opening remarks will be at 7:30pm.  The reception is free, and all are welcome.

Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media and the Arts considers the impact of technology today by exploring how it was addressed in the practice of the Hungarian polymath artist László Moholy-Nagy (1895 – 1946), a key figure in the history of Modernism. Moholy-Nagy is known for his work in traditional media such as painting and sculpture, but also in less conventional forms such as photography and film, as well as commercial fields like stage and exhibition design, typography, and advertising. His most original contributions are his speculations and experiments in new media such as light art, kinetic art, sound art, multi-media, expanded cinema, television, and immersive-participatory installations. Underlying all of these practices was a Utopian belief in the social utility of art and education. The exhibition is organized around some of Moholy-Nagy’s key themes: sensory training, technology/modernity, production/reproduction, immersion/participation, art as information/information as art, and transparency/reflection/motion.

Curated by Oliver Botar, Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media and the Artscombines historical artworks with works by contemporary artists from Canada, Europe and the United States who have been invited to respond to these themes. In addition to works by László Moholy-Nagy, the artists whose works are included in this exhibition include Eduardo Aquino (Winnipeg); the team of Nike Arnold, Andreas Haus, Aline Helmcke, Frédéric Krauke and Walter Lenertz (Berlin); Naomi Claire (Baltimore); Lancelot Coar (Winnipeg); Olafur Eliasson (Berlin); Oskar Fischinger; Ken Gregory (Winnipeg); Patrick Harrop (Winnipeg); the team of Gottfried Jäger and Karl Martin Holzhäuser (Bielefeld); Eduardo Kac (Chicago); György Kepes; the team of Jörg U. Lensing, Gudula Schröder, Jürgen Steger, Thomas Neuhaus, Malou Airaudo and Sascha Hardt (Düsseldorf); Erika Lincoln (Winnipeg); Norman McLaren; the team of the team of Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Bob Kotyk and Ryan Simmons (Winnipeg); Bernie Miller (Winnipeg); Lucia Moholy; Francisco Javier Navarro de Zuvillaga (Madrid); Freya Olafson (Winnipeg); István Sebök;  and Peter Yeadon (New York).

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art would like to thank the Salgo Trust for Education (New York), Hattula Moholy-Nagy, The Moholy-Nagy Foundation, Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung (Berlin), Winnipeg Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lars Müller Publishers (Zürich), Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba.