Our Place in Space.

„Our Place in Space”

offers opportunity to contemplate how and where we experience the Universe – and how we should continue to do so. How far do we dare to go? We ask similar questions in the sciences, in the arts and in politics; and yet these are also philosophical and personal questions.

The starting point of the special exhibition Our Place in Space is aesthetic images from the Hubble Space Telescope that has recently celebrated its 28th anniversary in space. For this occasion, Antonella Nota (ESA) and Anna Caterina Bellati (Bellati Editori) created the traveling exhibition Our Place in Space which first showed from February to April 2017 in Venice. Using contemporary and local artists of the hosting country, the exhibition reinvents itself at each destination.

Astronomy and Art in Dialog

At the Natural History Museum in Vienna, the exhibition, curated by the astronomer and artist Ulrike Kuchner, shows the traveling exhibition in the context of artists working in Austria. The exhibition distinguishes itself through the renowned artists Steinbrener/ Dempf & Huber, Nives Widauer, Payer Gabriel, Markus Reisinger und Yunchul Kim that have been invited, and the young and ambitious artists from the master class Art & Science of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, lead by Prof. Virgil Widrich, selected through a call. Margit Busch & Solmaz Farhang, Anna Lerchbaumer & Eleni Boutsika-Palles, Michael Bachhofer, Daniela Brill Estrada and Monica LoCascio are inspired by scientific images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Their works tell individual stories that allow the viewer to explore new space and connections.

 

“S.H.E.E.” habitat

What happens to our artistic creations and our self-image when we realise that our home in the Universe, the Milky Way, is only one in a sextillion spots, copied a million times? Each week we discover new earths. So what actually makes our world habitable? Where do we place ourselves in the solar system, where in the Milky way, or in the Universe, and where does the desire to explore come from? And how is the experience altered in our personal observations, creations and investigations? The exhibition explores these questions and offers answers through artistic expression.

The exhibition provides another highlight with the Austrian premiere of the presentation of the so-called “S.H.E.E.” habitat during the first week. The habitat is a self-deployable living space for persons on Moon, Mars or in disaster areas on Earth and will be open for viewings from 20 until 23 of June 2018.

We invite you on a journey that will guide you away from Vienna towards space, a journey that will end at the edges of our visible Universe. Our goal is to encourage people of all ages to engage in the interdisciplinary discussion of these two worlds, astronomy and art, where you will also have the chance to meet and connect with both artists and scientists.

From August 20 until 31, Vienna also hosts the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union, one of the most important international conferences for astronomers, astrophysicists and space scientists, where 4000 people are expected to attend.