Event 2: Cosmological Elements--Space and Art #2


The second event in the Cosmological Elements exhibition was "the Space Ecologies." While the first event in the series focused on a basic investigation of what the universe is made of, this panel explored the manifestation of space elements on planets. The lineup of artists included: Michèle Boulgone, Ranjit Bhatnagar, Makoto Azuma, and Quadrature, along with a few others! 


Email Confirmation of Event 


As with the first event in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed observing the various artworks and hearing the artists' stories behind their projects. Each provided compelling input on how we can further bridge the gap between science and art, demonstrating through their work that these two seemingly disconnected disciplines are actually quite inseparable. The two artists that particularly caught my attention were Makoto Azuma and Ranjit Bhatnagar. 

Makoto Azuma is a Tokyo-based Japanese flower artist who is credited with the creation of what he calls "botanical sculpture." For his project, Exobiotanica, Azuma launched a bouquet of flowers into the stratosphere (an altitude of 30,000 meters) using a specially crafted high-altitude balloon. A high-speed camera was used to capture the entirety of the bouquet's journey into space, resulting in thousands upon thousands of extraordinary photos. The reason I found this specific project so captivating was because it provides a way for us to view plant life in a whole new territory, one that is outside of its natural environment on earth. Because the plant is introduced to an area where there is no gravity, "it conquers in its way a new world...showing all of its beauty" (Ficicchia). 

Exobiotanica by Makoto Azuma
Exobiotanica. 


The second artist is Ranjit Bhatnagar, who specializes in music, installation, and algorithmic techniques. In his project, The Tapestry in Search of Terrestrial Intelligence, Bhatnagar translated audio files into a 40-meter-long tapestry rug. The audio files Bhatnagar used contained various unique sounds that were recorded as part of Voyager's "Golden Record," which included nature sounds, human voices, and random electronic-like beeps. Bhatnagar was able to use computer software to convert this audio into a series of canvas images, ultimately resulting in this amazing tapestry. According to Bhatnagar, the twisted and distorted images produced reminded him of the way in which aliens might receive a faint transmission in the future. 

Upon seeing Bhatnagar's process of making this project, I honestly couldn't believe my eyes! Never in my life had I seen a piece of digital information being turned into a physical piece of artwork! In fact, many people seemed to express just as much fascination as I did. 


The Tapestry in Search of Terrestrial Intelligence by Ranjit Bhatnagar
The Tapestry in Search of Terrestrial Intelligence. 
Some student comments (including mine) on Bhatnagar's work. 









Works Cited: 

Cosmological Elements, https://cosmoselements.art/Artists. Accessed May 18, 2023. 


"Exobiotanica Space Flight." Gallery Exobiotanica, http://exobiotanica.com. Accessed May 17, 2023. 


Fichicchia, Giulia. "Exobiotanica 2, Flowers in Space." Collateral, 

            https://www.collater.al/en/exobiotanica-2-amkk/. Accessed May 18, 2023. 


Bhatnagar, Ranjit. "The Tapestry of the Search for Terrestrial Intelligence." Science Gallery, 

            https://dublin.sciencegallery.com/life-at-the-edges-exhibits/the-tapestry-of-the-search-for-

            terrestrial-intelligence. Accessed May 19, 2023. 

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