→ 2024
→ 2023
The Video
When we can see far enough, we spot the earth’s horizon; it is easy to understand; it is perpendicular to the vertical gravity. Without the indicator of earth’s gravity, space’s horizon relies on the object in space and space’s background for us to understand its orientation. The designed device could misalign with the concept of “upright.” Our prototype would be documented by video during a parabolic flight. By post-editing the video to center the object in the video frame, we aim to juxtapose the spatial movement of the object and its space to what we are familiar with here on earth. The background would rotate around the now stabilized object; we hope to capture this movement and play between the object and the environment without any clear orientation.
The Object
We hope to expand the visual experience through mirrors to physically divide the space into up and down and expand the reach in both directions. Because the object will float in the chaotic context of a zero-g flight with both other passengers and experiments, the angles we capture should offer the viewer glimpses of orientation. The traditionally grounded space of the aircraft with floor and ceiling juxtaposed with bodies floating through space should provide an exciting backdrop to the video performance.
At the center, however, is still our focused object. We took inspiration from Peter Campus’ KIVA art piece to embed mirrors into our subject. This should separate the object from the surrounding and offer us an abstracted first-person view of the object, adding to the idea of a third space. As a point of focus, we saw it fitting to add ‘the blue marble’ photo as a photographic artifact of space exploration and as the literal grounding point for our video. The picture is fixed to a two-sided mirror coin, one with the positive earth at the center and the other with a negative imprint. This should both distinctly separate the sides of the coin and offer us moments of the interaction of both the background, object, and self-reflections of the observing camera.
Pain Points and challenges
Some pain points and challenges were to create both a free-floating object and camera contraption that abides by the safety standards of a zero-g flight. However, this constraint, paired with some revelations during the experimentations, has led us to create this versatile but compact object. Working through the physical construction has led us to make an objectively simple object that we hope has a significant visual effect when captured through video.
Conclusion
This project revolves less about the artifact but the experience. Through Working through and understanding how to mimic and capture the sense of disorientation visually; we hope this performance device could question and highlight a way of democratizing space exploration with new media. VR has its limit; through the medium of video performance, we want to create an analog alternative that could bridge the gap between astronauts and us, providing a chance for everyone to experience what an astronaut experiences.
Yang Tian
and
Paul Meuser
2021