9 April, 2016 17:00 UT
OPTICKS is a Cosmic Mail Art happening between the Earth and the Moon, during which images are transmitted to the Moon and back as radio signals in real time. The project has been realized by visual artist Daniela de Paulis (IT/NL) in collaboration with radio amateur Jan van Muijlwijk and the CAMRAS radio amateurs association based at the Dwingeloo radio telescope (NL). Each live performance is made possible thanks to the collaboration of international radio enthusiasts, including Bruce Halasz (Brazil) and Nando Pellegrini (IT)
You can watch the performance live on YouTube.
You can also see the gallery of previous originals and moon-bounced images here.
OPTICKS will be broadcast live at 'Seeing Sound' in Bath and the images will be submitted by people taking part in this event. 'Seeing Sound' is an informal practice-led symposium exploring multimedia work which foregrounds the relationship between sound and image. It explores areas such as visual music, abstract cinema, experimental animation, audiovisual performance and installation practice through paper sessions, screenings, performances and installations'. More information can be found on: http://www.seeingsound.co.uk/
During each live performance of OPTICKS, the images are converted into radio waves and are transmitted to the Moon. The Moon's surface reflects the radio signals and scatters them all around the Space. Only a small percentage of the original signal is reflected on Earth and received by the Dwingeloo radio telescope's antenna, where it is converted back into the original images.
The 'noise' showing in any moonbounced image is caused by the great distance travelled by the radio signals to the Moon and back (approximately 800,000 Kilometres) and by the poor reflective qualities of the Moon's surface.
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.
About the artist
Daniela de Paulis is an interdisciplinary artist based in The Netherlands. She exhibits internationally, often collaborating with other artists, scientists and radio amateurs. She holds a BA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy, and a Master Degree in Media Arts from Plymouth University, UK. Since October 2009 she is the first artist in residence at the Dwingeloo radio telescope and ASTRON (www.astron.nl) where she developed, together with the CAMRAS and the ASTRON team, a technology called Visual Moonbounce. She is also the founder of the art programme at the Dwingeloo radio telescope, allowing international artists to work in collaboration with radio astronomers and radio operators. She is currently a guest researcher at ASCA (Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis), University of Amsterdam, developing her research on Interstellar Transmissions. Since 2010 she has been collaborating with the international collective Astronomers Without Borders (AWB), as the founder and director of the AstroArts programme. In 2013 she founded Cabine Voltaire, a pioneering online, collaborative platform for live debates on science, technology and the humanities. She is currently working on a new project called 'COGITO' for which she is collaborating with the Overview Institute, as well as neuroscientists and philosophers.
She is a reviewer for the Leonardo MIT Journal and the EVA (Electronic Visualization in the Arts) London conference, as well as a regular contributor for Astronomers Without Borders and www.astroblogs.nl amongst others. She has published her work with the Leonardo MIT Journal, Inderscience, Acta Astronautica and Cambridge University Press. She is a member of the international SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) committee as the speaker for SETI and culture. More information on her work can be found on www.opticks.info and www.danieladepaulis.com.
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