Brightest Young Things

Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro: Are We There Yet? is the first exhibition in the United States of the Australian artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro. Commissioned by and created especially for the Corcoran, the exhibition is the third exhibition in the NOW at the Corcoran series, a program dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging and mid-career artists. The exhibition's highlight, a gallery-transforming installation on the Gallery's second floor, draws from American history, literature, pop culture, current affairs, and the specific architecture of the Corcoran to explore the symbolism of space exploration and the paradoxes of food consumption.

Occupying two spaces at the Corcoran, Healy and Cordeiro's project consists of a site-specific, gallery installation, Are We There Yet?, and a number of wall works constructed from Lego that continue the series Where We've Been, Where We're Going, Why (2010-11). The artists' materials are the "readymades" found on our supermarket shelves and in toy stores, repurposed in the context of the museum. Are We There Yet? is a fanciful yet dark meditation on space travel, coming 50 years after the first human journey into outer space and the more recent shuttering of NASA's space shuttle program.