Alien Nation adapted sci-fi imagery, language and iconography to explore (commercial) perceptions of otherness. Seeing fifties film posters and black-and-white footages was inspiring and enjoyable. The artworks in Alien Nation were selected and focused on, according to the exhibition catalogue, themes of ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ through the language and iconography of sci-fi. Of course, (UK style) the exhibition focused on the concept of alien nation as a way of exploring racial difference.
The artworks on display expose a disturbing contemporary narrative in which the media perpetuate a terror of ‘invasion’ from immigrants and asylum seekers (indeed any racial, cultural or ethnic ‘other’), positioning such outsiders as the dominant threat to both family and national stability. [Alien Nation Exhibition Pamphlet]
The works were interesting in their own right, but from our perspective we felt the exhibition as a whole was confused the by overlapping narratives of otherness (alienation) and racial difference. It became an exhibition focusing on traditional sci-fi ideas rather than contemporary.