The American
Gathered Leaves: Photographs by Alec Soth Media Space, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD October 6 to March 28 then National Media Museum, Bradford April 22 to June 26
Alexei Leonov, Over the Black Sea, 1973, Oil on canvas © THE MEMORIAL MUSEUM OF COSMONAUTICS
Alexei Leonov painted this self-portrait after his 1965 spacewalk. It shows him orbiting above the Black Sea and is his most famous artwork, a statement of the complex relationship between a man and his planet.
Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD September 18 to March 13
This long-awaited exhibition of art and artefacts from the Russian space project has finally arrived. It tells the remarkable story of the scientific and technological ingenuity that kick-started the space age with a record number of firsts for the Soviet Union and includes an original model of Sputnik from 1957. Rocket engineer and designer Sergei Korolev is said to have insisted on its shiny appearance because he believed that one day replicas would be displayed in
40 September - October 2015
the world’s museums. The Soviet Union followed the great success of Sputnik 1 by launching the first animal, man and woman into orbit in just six years. Amongst the star objects on display in the exhibition are real cosmonaut-flown spacecraft, including Vostok-6, the actual capsule that carried Valentina Tereshkova, the first spacewoman, back to earth in 1963 and a dog ejector seat. From the work of late 19th century Cosmist thinkers who first proposed that humanity’s destiny lay in space, to the reality of living in space on board Mir and the International Space Station, the exhibition includes posters, drawings and ingenious solutions to adapting man to space.
The first major UK exhibition of American documentary photographer Soth (b. 1969), notable for his large-scale American projects featuring the MidWest. Hailing from Minnesota, he’s considered one of the world’s top working photographers. He says “I’m particularly thrilled to be doing this in London; a place where I’ve had an enthusiastic readership but have barely ever exhibited. I feel like I’m making up for lost time by finally presenting my four major projects at once: Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010) and Songbook (2015).” Roth will be delivering a special lecture on October 6, at 7pm, exploring the journey that his photographs make from the page to the wall… and back again. Alec Soth, Misty, from Niagara, 2005 © ALEC SOTH