PITTSBURGH, Penn.—Forty artists will explore life on Mars as part of the 2008 Carnegie International, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. This marks the first time the triennial, in its 55th installment, will be themed. The Mars theme is "very much a poetic gesture in terms of thinking about our place in the universe as humans," said Douglas Fogle, curator of contemporary art at Carnegie Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition. "Are we alone in the universe? Do aliens exist? Or are we, ourselves, the strangers in our own worlds? To me contemporary art is as much about coming to terms with our own world as it is about creating a set of worlds parallel to those that we walk in everyday."

The contemporary art survey opens May 3 and runs through January 11, 2009, at the Carnegie Museum of Art. In addition to the $10,000 Carnegie Prize, which goes to an artist in recognition of outstanding lifetime achievement, this year's show also includes the Fine Prize, which will go to an emerging artist. The prize will be drawn from a $5 million endowment the Fine Foundation gave the Carnegie International in September.

Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie International in 1896, modeling the exhibition after the Venice Biennale, held for the first time in 1895.