Eduardo Kac, Inner Telescope, space artwork, 2017. Inner
Telescope floating in the International Space Station
(ISS), in orbit around the Earth. Inner Telescope was
realized on the International Space Station (ISS) with the
cooperation of French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. It was produced
by the Observatoire de l'Espace (Space Observatory), the
cultural lab of the French Space Agency (CNES), with the support
of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Daniel and Nina
Carasso Foundation.
Eduardo Kac has created an artwork aboard the International
Space Station (ISS); French astronaut Thomas Pesquet realized it
on Saturday, February 18th, 2017.
Kac's work, entitled Inner Telescope, was
specifically conceived for zero
gravity and was not brought from Earth: it was made in
space by Pesquet following the artist's instructions.
The artwork 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, Eduardo Kac has been theorizing and producing
art and poetry that challenge the limits of gravity. His Space Poetry
manifesto was published in 2007. Now, in 2017, Kac finally
realizes the dream he has pursued for more than 30 years: the
creation, production and experience of a work directly in outer
space.
The astronaut's mission is entitled "Proxima" and is
coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Kac's project is
coordinated by the L'Observatoire de l'Espace, the
cultural lab of the French Space Agency.
