Interstellar Introspection
Oude Sterrewacht (Old Observatory Leiden)
Nacht van Ontdekkingen
2023
Interstellar Introspection is a slideshow of 64 images presented in two chapters seen through telescopes.
Chapter 1
Interstellar Introspection
Moons of Saturn
The images combine personal logs studying earths nature including water, ice, landscape formations, methane bubbles, fossils alongside images captured from Nasa’s Cassini satellite mission as well as Christiaan Huygens and Galileo’s notes on Saturn and its moons. Galileo first wrote that “Saturn had ears” when spotting the peculiar form projecting ourselves into nights sky. Huygens later clarified these were rings and also discovered the moon Titan. Shortly after Huygens began speculating what life and nature might be like in the cosmos in his publication Cosmostheoros (1695) based on our understanding of natural sciences and new knowledges collected observing our solar system. Interstellar Introspection takes from what we know and feel to how we might imagine or connect to subjects like Saturn’s moons, being environments potentially capable of hosting life.
Chapter 2
Interstellar Speculation
Moons of Saturn
These images are inspired by Huygens speculative descriptions of extraerrestrials and their nature using the Cosmostheoros (1695), in this case attending to Saturn and its moons. I also use Dr Arik Kershenbaum’s book: “The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy. What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves” (2020) which attends to speculations of life on two of Saturn’s moons – Titan and Enceladus. Using these as references for prompts in Midjourneys Ai image generator, we can dream using Huygens 17th century ideas today and imagine life on these moons.
Title: Interstellar Introspection
Medium: Screens in foam and silicon carbide space rocks and telescopes.
64 Images: personal photography logs, archive images from Nasa Cassini mission, Christiaan Huygens and Galilieos notes on Saturn and midjounry AI generated images.
Duration: (8mins)
Year: 2023