Inner Telescope
Quoi:
Work
Quand:
6:00 PM, lundi 13 août 2018
(3 jours 20 heures)
Où:
Centre de Design (DE) UQAM -
Galerie du Centre de Design
Discussion:
0
Inner Telescope is a poem created aboard the International Space Station
(ISS) with the assistance of French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who
realized it on Saturday, February 18th, 2017. Inner Telescope was
specifically conceived for zero gravity and was not brought from Earth:
it was made in space by Pesquet following my instructions. The poem was
made from materials already available in the space station. It consists
of a form that has neither top nor bottom, neither front nor back.
Viewed from a certain angle, it reveals the French word “MOI“ [meaning
“me”, or "myself"]; from another point of view one sees a human figure
with its umbilical cord cut. This “MOI“ stands for the collective self,
evoking humanity, and the umbilical cord cut represents our liberation
from gravitational limits. Inner Telescope is an instrument of
observation and poetic reflection, which leads us to rethink our
relationship with the world and our position in the Universe. Since the
1980s, I have been theorizing and producing poetry that challenges the
limits of gravity, especially with my holopoems—written with light. My
Space Poetry manifesto was published in 2007. In 2017, I finally
realized the dream I have pursued for more than 30 years: the creation,
production and experience of a work directly in outer space. The
astronaut's mission was entitled "Proxima" and was coordinated by the
European Space Agency (ESA). My work was coordinated by the
L'Observatoire de l'Espace, the Culture Lab of the French Space Agency.