Project proposal - Transart - Emilio Chapela

PhD Proposal - Transart - Emilio Chapela

01 – Title of project

Landscape study of Astronomical instruments in remote locations

02 – Description of proposed project / body of work (600 words max.)

The project consists on the production of a series of artworks as result of my visits to various astronomical observatories in remote locations: Including the Large Millimetre Telescope and the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory in Sierra Negra in Mexico at an altitude of 4,700 meters (15,000 feet) and the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimetre Array in the Atacama desert in Chile over 5,000 meters (16500 feet) above sea level.

In an effort to present a more comprehensive idea of the landscape, I will explore and document on video some of the relationships –often dissociated– between the technological instruments, the hostile natural environment and the social context surrounding these sites. The artworks, mainly experimental video, new media and sculpture, will be presented as a cohesive element that reflects on space and time.

In search for the most suitable places for astronomical observations (high altitude and dry climates), Scientists and Engineers are traveling to the most remote spaces of the planet where life is very scarce, to build powerful instruments. These sites, like the one built at the Atacama desert in Chile, an array of more than 60 radio-telescope antennas, or the observatories built on top an extinguished volcano in Mexico, are located in remote places away from human settlements, light and sound contamination. I will spend time inside these facilities along with the astronomers who operate them for short periods of time to document, learn and discuss. I will document the surroundings as much as I can while remaining safe due to the lack of oxygen at that height.

I want to show these astronomical observatories as a cosmological machines, which in addition to the extraordinary operational tasks they perform, they invite us to a philosophical, ontological and artistic reflection about time, space and the origins of the Universe. Borrowing a concept from Marshall McLuhan, they are an extension of our body and our minds.

These telescopes allow us to see millions of years away into the past. I’m interested in producing sculptures and new media works based on the observations and data produced by these instruments. The artworks will present us with a temporal contradiction: They will depict (using an abstract language) how celestial bodies were millions of years ago. They are cosmological machines that have no choice but to look into the past. It is possible that the very thing they portray, might not even be there any more.

I believe that a multidisciplinary PHD program like the one offered by Transart, will provide me with the critical feedback and research tools to produce the body of work described above. I am interested in a strong multidisciplinary arts program that allows me to satisfy what my artwork entails: to develop new tools to establish links between my interests, to expand my visual resources and technical abilities to resolve ideas with great impact, to enrich my work’s social awareness and its impact on the public space, to integrate writing as a critical instrument and to incorporate a research-based strategy to my practice. I aim to develop a unique poetic language rooted in complex ideas portrayed with simplicity.

03 – The project’s relevance: What is the broader context for the proposed work?

The work done at these observatories has a profound scientific and philosophical importance which needs to to be documented from the perspective of art. I’m interested in fostering the collaboration with scientist, technicians and other artists to produce works that aim towards a comprehensive understanding of the connections between science, technology, nature and society within the context of these sites. I will try to do work that will have a resonance with the public.

04 – Research methods* and methodology: How will you be creating the work and how will this reflect your theoretical interests?

I will document the astronomical sites using video and audio from a first-person observation strategy that will allow me to experience technology, nature and the social surroundings in these remote places, as an integrated landscape, that will render conceptually strong, contemplative, poetic and visually compelling artworks.

I aim to develop the tools to accomplish these goals during the development of my PHD. And while I have used similar strategies in the past, I need guidance on how to incorporate a social component into my creative process that is fundamental on presenting a more holistic view into the research. It could be in the form of interviews, conversations, collaborations, actions or performances for the camera (like music).

With the help from my advisors, I would like to expand into new methods of approaching the subject matter, possibly rooted in participant observation, dialectics or Phenomenology. I would like to study and develop new knowledge that allows me to explore and adapt the concept of Anthropology of Technology into this project and to my practice at large.

I will learn –with help of the astronomers– how to read data extracted from the radio telescopes and spectrographs, to produce sculptures that deal with the concept of time by interpreting astronomical data of objects that are millions of years away, to produce physical objects that portray the distant past.

05 – Initial list of sources (written materials, examples, prior works by others and/or yourself)

Pfaffenberger, Bryan. "Social Anthropology of Technology." Annual Review of Anthropology 21.1 (1992): 491-516.

Barros, Alonso. “Pachamama y desarrollo: paisajes conflictivos en el Desierto de Atacama”. Estudios Atacameñios 13 (1997): 75-94

McLuhan, Marshall. “The Medium is the Massage”. 1964

Chapela, Emilio. The space around. Documental research about ruins of technology in connection to Bell Laboratories in NJ. https://vimeo.com/166038794 Password: space

06 – Your research question/s: What is the basic focus of the proposed work?

Are these astronomical observatories an extension of our bodies? Can they be considered as cosmological machines? How to produce artworks that embody philosophical issues like time and space? How can I adopt strategies from Anthropology into my creative research? How should I approach to the astronomical observatories in terms of documentation?  

07 – Project results, e.g. documentation, performance, script, intervention, website, exhibition, book, journal

I will produce a long duration experimental video, a set of photographic images and an online journal. Also, a series of sculptures and new media works based on data obtained from astronomical observations.

08 – Intended audience

Art related audience through exhibitions in Museums and galleries, members of the local and rural communities in San Pedro Atacama, Chile and México, and the scientific community involved in the project. I will make the artworks available online to all public.

09 – Short statement on your current practice

I am a multidisciplinary artist based in Mexico city. My artistic career has been fostered by science, philosophy and film. The critical, philosophical and scientific reflection on technology and its impact on society has been the core to my artistic practice. I am part of a generation that has welcomed technology seamlessly but cautiously, simultaneously resistant to technology, and dependent on it. A generation that made me conclusively aware that the role of technology is neither socially nor politically neutral. I am interested in producing artworks that render visible in a descriptive and critical way, what technology says about society: technology as a lens capable to amplify or to distort, as critical stance that reverses the gaze back to the observer.

10 – Formulate entire project in 2-3 meaningful sentences.

Production of an experimental video, new media works and sculptures that explore the interconnections, dissociations and contradictions rendered from the interaction of technology, information, nature and society around highly specialised and remote astronomical sites above 16,000 feet above the sea level in Mexico and Chile. I will document the astronomical sites using video and audio using a first-person observation strategy that will allow me to experience technology, nature and the social surroundings in these remote places as an integrated landscape that will render conceptually strong, contemplative, poetic and visually compelling artworks.

With the information obtained from astronomic observations, I will produce a series of works (sculptures and new media) that will materialise the huge temporal and spatial gaps in the Universe enhanced by astronomical observations. Celestial bodies seen by this instruments are located millions of years away, both in distance and in time.

11 – Technical description and production process

The video and audio documentation of the two important observatories (millimetric and gamma rays) on top of the Sierra Negra mountain in México will be done in several stages: I have already visited the site and I plan to go back on different times of the year, especially during the observation nights, from October to May. These observatories will allow me to experiment and develop new ideas since they are reachable by car from Mexico City (2 hour drive). They will become my temporary studios. The National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE) is already giving me support.

The visits to the Observatories in the Atacama Desert in Chile needs more planning and will be scheduled once I have defined a creative and conceptual strategy with the help from the PHD advisors. I have secured some of the funds to travel to the site at least twice.

I will edit the videos in my studio in Mexico city, where I will also produce the rest of the works: the new media projects (I program in Cycling Max and Jitter) and the sculptures. My studio is part of a collaborative workshop where other 5 people work: We share a lithographic press and a wood-shop with a CNC machine, laser cutter and other machines to make sculptures.