Lost in Space: Book Launch and Artist Talk
We are pleased to invite you to the launch of the book Lost in Space by Anton Benois at Fotogalleriet. The event will include an artist talk with Anton Benois and Bjørn-Henrik Lybeck.
Lost in Space is an artist book that presents a photo archive of dogs used in the Soviet space programme. We see, among others, Laika, Belka, and Strelka—dogs that were sent into space as test subjects in the superpower race to colonize outer space. The dogs were strays picked up from the streets of Moscow, becoming an involuntary vanguard in the effort to realise the dream of sending the first human to the Moon. The photographs are originals that were stolen from an image archive in the 1990s, when the Soviet Union was dissolving, and were purchased by Benois a few years later on eBay. Through the images of dogs in bizarre spacesuits, as well as photographs showing them interacting with their captors, the book raises questions about human exceptionalism and our relationship with the nostalgised image.
Anton Benois (b. 1979, Moscow, USSR) is an artist based in Oslo, where he works with film, installation, publication and performance. He received an MFA from Kunstakademiet i Trondheim in 2019. His work explores how objects, both historical and personal, become embedded within individual and collective histories and how nostalgia shapes our relationship to images and material culture.
Bjørn-Henrik Lybeck (b. 1985) is a visual artist based in Oslo, working with photography and artist books. He received his MFA from Bergen Academy of Arts and Design in 2015 and has since participated in international book fairs and exhibitions. His practice is deeply influenced by the traditions of straight photography and post-war photojournalism. Employing a formal and unstaged style, he carries this legacy into contemporary practice. In addition to his artistic practice, he works as a senior adviser for FFF – The Norwegian Association for Fine Art Photographers.