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Synopsis
Created by the artist Eduardo Kac to exist in weightlessness and to be made on board the International Space Station by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, the work "Inner Telescope" lays the foundation for a new form of art and poetry, freed from the constraints of gravity. This film takes us on an artistic and scientific journey from the conception of the work in Eduardo Kac's studio in Chicago to its realization in orbit by Thomas Pesquet, 400 km away from Earth, during the Proxima mission of the European Space Agency.With Eduardo Kac, Thomas Pesquet, Gérard Azoulay, Hugues Marchal et Thierry Duquesne.
Télescope intérieur, une œuvre spatiale d'Eduardo Kac Un film de Virgile Novarina (35 min. / une production de l’Observatoire de l’Espace du CNES, 2017)
Trailer
About the Guests
In the early 1980s, Kac created digital, holographic and online works that were invested in paving the way to the new global culture we live in today, composed of ever-changing information in constant flux. From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, Kac developed radical telepresence works with remote-controlled robots he created specifically for each piece. In 1997, he sent shockwaves across the world by becoming the first human to implant a digital microchip through his work, Time Capsule. It was also in 1997, in the context of Time Capsule, that he coined the term Bio Art, thus igniting the widespread development of this new art form. In 1999, he created the artwork Genesis, in which he encoded an English statement into living bacteria, allowed Internet participants to mutate the bacteria, and then decoded the mutant DNA back into altered English. In 2000, Kac made what many consider his most famous work; entitled GFP Bunny, it comprises a green fluorescent rabbit called Alba. By splicing jellyfish and rabbit DNA, he originated the first mammal in the history of art.
Kac’s 2009 work Natural History of the Enigma, in which he created a new flower with his own DNA, earned him the Golden Nica Award, the most prestigious award in the field of media arts and the highest prize awarded by Ars Electronica.
In 2017, the New York Times published a full-page article about Kac’s Inner Telescope, a work he conceived for and realized in outer space with the cooperation of French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; the Institute of Modern Art of Valencia, Spain; the ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe, Germany; and the Museum of Contemporary Art of São Paulo, among others.
Virts currently travels worldwide inspiring audiences with stories from space and his insights into life on earth. He brings his unique perspective to businesses, covering diverse topics such as: the environment; global wealth; intercultural leadership; crisis and risk management; innovation; strategy and vision; and decision making. He recently directed his first film, One More Orbit about his Guinness World Record-breaking mission in July 2019, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. His next book, How to Astronaut, is due out in Sep., 2020. Virts also authored Apo11o: To the Moon and Back, a collector’s edition reproduction of the original flight plan Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and the mission control team in Houston used to plan and execute man’s first mission to land on the moon.
He is currently involved in several television and film projects, serves on corporate boards, writes and promotes public policy.
He is one of only four astronauts to have piloted a Space Shuttle, flown a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, performed spacewalks and commanded the ISS. Virts has a unique perspective about the earth, having taken more photos from space than any other astronaut. He is also one of the stars of the IMAX film A Beautiful Planet, shooting much of the stunning footage himself. Virts’ photography is also featured in his National Geographic book, View From Above.
Image: ©Thomas Pesquet, ESA, CNES
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