ALIVE in the UNIVERSE is presented by Aldeburgh Ideas at the 58. Venice Biennale in the historic Palazzo Papafava. Eileen Haring Woods is the co-producer and Lol Sargent is the technical advisor.

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Over the course of the project 28 BIG BANG international artists express how it feels to be alive in the universe through video, performance and installation and over 200 one minute art-films from around the world, adding instant moments of life in the universe. These short films will be screened at Palazzo Papafava throughout the duration of the exhibition. In addition, 28 of the artists including Alan Rankle, Issam Kourbaj, Sarah Lucas, Nigel Hall RA, Maggi Hambling, Matthew Darbyshire and Ermias Kifleyesus will participate in BIG BANG: every day of the 28 days a different artist makes a big impact, using performance or installation to further explore one of these four themes: LIFE / DEATH, SPACE / TIME, POSITIVE / NEGATIVE FORCES, MYTH / LOGIC.

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#aliveintheuniverse hopes to evoke a global response from everyone, reflecting upon what is means to be alive through an Instagram image or short video with a philosophical title. Adding texture to this, there will be haikus and short poetic statements composed by people from all over the world.

 

The project ALIVE in the UNIVERSE develops from EINSTEIN on ALDEBURGH BEACH, an ongoing fascination with Einstein's examination of life: "A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'universe'," he wrote. "We are all unique participants in one creative universe", says Caroline Wiseman, founder of ALIVE in the UNIVERSE. "Art is a powerful way of expressing our unique creativity, giving each of us a voice, and bonding us as one human race. It is, as Einstein says, "...The expression of the profoundest thought in the simplest way."