All GAM 2012 Programs
28, April 2012 at 18UT
OPTICKS in the Dome
Watch at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/opticks2012
For Global Astronomy Month 2012 we will host for the second year in a row the project OPTICKS, by media artist Daniela de Paulis (IT/NL), in collaboration with CAMRAS radio amateurs association based at Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL). OPTICKS is a live performance during which digital images are sent to the Moon in form of radio signals from a dish situated in Brazil, Poland, the UK or Switzerland and received back by Dwingeloo radio telescope in The Netherlands.
The title OPTICKS is inspired by Newton's discoveries of the light spectrum, reflection and refraction. Similarly, the colours composing an image - converted into radio signals - are bounced off the Moon (reflected and refracted) by its surface during each live performance of OPTICKS.
For GAM 2012 OPTICKS will be presented as a live show, web streamed from inside the cabin of Dwingeloo radio telescope, starting from 18 UTC. 
People of all ages are invited to submit pictures for live Moonbounce during the OPTICKS event on April 28, please send the image you would like the most to travel to the Moon and back.
Due to technical reasons we will be able to moonbounce ten images only. The moonbounced images will be printed and sent as sonic postcards to the original senders with a greeting message from the artist and the Dwingeloo team as a proof of a successful trip to the Moon and back*.
At the end of the OPTICKS live event from Dwingeloo radio telescope on April 28, Daniela and the CAMRAS team will send the images of the seven colors of the spectrum to our closest star, Epsilon Eridani, situated at a distance of 10.5 light years and known to host a planet.
The event will close with the screening of 'le Voyage dans la Lune', a short B/W film by Daniela de Paulis, realized with 26 images of the Lunar phases kindly provided by Michael Oates (Manchester Astronomical Society). The images have been moonbounced and joint into a sequence. 'le Voyage dans la Lune' is the very first film in the world realized with moonbounced images. The sound score is kindly provided by JAXA.
*Please note that the moonbounced images cannot be used for commercial purposes and whenever displayed in press material, websites, publications, the name of the artist (Daniela de Paulis) and the project website (www.opticks.info) must be credited and clearly specified, according to the Creative Commons License.
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DANIELA DE PAULIS
I am an artist living and working between Italy and The Netherlands. I studied Fine Arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome where I graduated in Painting. In 1998 I moved to the UK where I lived for more than a decade, continuing my studies and my artistic career. In 2003 I completed a Master Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Plymouth, my work has been exhibited internationally since my graduation.
In 2005 I qualified as educator and I am currently teaching Art both for adults and young learners.
Since 2009 I have been artist in residence at Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL) where I developed, together with Jan van Muijlwijk and the CAMRAS team, a new way of communicating via the Moon, now called Visual Moonbounce. This new application of Moonbounce technology allows sending images to the Moon and back as radio signals.
I first applied Visual Moonbounce in my project ‘OPTICKS’ which will be presented during GAM 2012 as a live performance between the Earth and the Moon. More information about this project can be found on www.opticks.info and www.danieladepaulis.com My latest work is the short film ‘le Voyage dans la Lune’, inspired by the 1902 film by George Méliès. The work is the very first moving sequence realized with ‘moonbounced’ images. The original 26 pictures of the Lunar phases were taken and kindly made available for the project by Michael Oates (Manchester Astronomical Society). The film will be presented during GAM 2012, accompanied by the Moonbell, the sonic topography of the Moon created by JAXA. I am currently a PhD student at Leiden University, developing my research on Visual Moonbounce and its links to Visionary Architecture and Space Research.
