Atelier Van Lieshout's Dystopian Labyrinth Engulfs Pioneer Works

At Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) presents "The CryptoFuturist and The New Tribal Labyrinth," the artist's largest US exhibition to date. The immersive installation, on view through April 14, 2019, transforms the industrial space into a post-industrial cityscape filled with objects that blur the line between art, architecture, and design. Works include "The Mechanical Turks" (2015), humanoid automata debating primitivism versus technological progress; "Pendulum" (2019), a yellow mechanical clock that destroys objects daily at 5 PM; and "Blast Furnace" (2013), a dormant industrial furnace containing domestic elements. AVL, founded by Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout in 1995, explores themes of resource depletion, self-sufficiency, and the tension between utopian ideals and dystopian outcomes. The exhibition confronts visitors with a disorienting array of objects that challenge perceptions of functionality and meaning, creating what critic Maurita Cardone describes as a dreamlike experience.