Rob Voerman

Entropic Empire
Museum der Moderne Salzburg

Where Did the Faith in the Future Go?

Rob Voerman’s (b. Deventer, Netherlands, 1966; lives and works in Arnhem, Netherlands) architectonic constructions, small-scale sculptures, delicate drawings, and staged photographs are as disconcerting as they are fascinating. They outline a flawlessly constructed utopian world with post-apocalyptic traits and often derive from famous designs by luminaries of modernism like Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gerrit Rietveld, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the Bauhaus. Voerman’s installations suggest that the humans of the future have failed to return to the Garden Eden: the project of harnessing science and technology to subjugate nature for the benefit of mankind has foundered.

The catalogue Entropic Empire documents Voerman’s visions of an alternative (or future) terrifying and beautiful world, accompanied by writings by Isabella Hermann, Srećko Horvat, Peter Neumann and Christina Penetsdorfer, with a preface by Harald Krejci.