Before the term ‘revolution’ came to mean ‘a violent overthrowing of the existing political and social order’, designated such by the experience of the French Revolution, astronomers had used it to describe the orbital revolution of celestial bodies. The essayistic group exhibition Genossin Sonne is dedicated to works of art and artistic theories that connect the cosmos, and especially the sun – the most important provider of energy for life on earth – to social and political movements. In light of the decentering of the human being as the subject of history, we inquire into the extent to which not just the natural environment on our earth, but on a grander scale even the universe contributes to historical processes. For instance, is there a link between increased solar activity and revolutions on earth, as Soviet cosmists had claimed?
Do contemporary visual art, poetry and theory contribute speculative and enjoyable reflections on the topic?

For the Free Republic of Vienna and the Declaration of a Second Modernism, the exhibition casts a new light on the question: who are the agents of history? What effects and alters an understanding of revolution that removes the focus on human beings as the primary driving force?

Installation in public space

In collaboration with the kunsthalle wien, the Brunnenpassage presents an installation by Huda Takriti: In the promise of the rising sun