Sky Art 24 – Symposium & Exhibition

Sky Art 24 – Symposium & Exhibition
ACT Cube, 2-5pm, April 5th 2024

Join us on Friday, April 5th at 2:00 pm for the Sky Art Symposium 24 in the ACT Cube in the Wiesner Building (MIT E15-001)!

Space is limited. Register here.

Our event aims to continue the history of a series of Sky Art conferences initiated in the 1980s at The Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at MIT, the forerunner of ACT. These conferences, spearheaded by Otto Piene, sought to inspire artists to reclaim the sky from warfare for peaceful experiences and spoke to the then-cultural contexts of the fear of newly developed aviation technologies, new perceptual possibilities opened up by telecommunication technologies, and the desire to achieve spiritual elevation. With nearly two decades since the last conference and considering today’s evidentially different global context — marked by challenges like space debris, geopolitical tensions, and individual situations that caught in between — we believe it is a pertinent moment to reassess the cultural significance of the sky through the lens of art in our own perspectives.

Presenters:

Aleksandra Mir
Artist
First Woman on the Moon

Janine Randerson
Media artist, writer, and curator, AUT University
Susceptible Skies: a Decolonised, Meteorological Art

Marie-Pier Boucher
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Space Feminisms: People, Planets, Power

Adela Goldbard
Artist, Associate Professor, Rhode Island School of Design
Gunpowder and Stars

Alice Sparkly Kat
Astrologer
Practicing a Metaphor

Chucho Ocampo Aguliar
Artist
Inconmensurable Alternatives

Stephen Spencer
Preceptor in Writing, Harvard
The Race for Mars and Science Fiction

Moderated by
Hashim Sarkis
Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, MIT

The event will be accompanied by a series of sky art showcased in the venue: Conjunktion by Vinzenz Aubry (SMACT ’25) in collaboration with Peter Moosgaard, Artificial Satellite Astrology by Zhanyi Chen (SMACT ’24), and Navigating the Sky by Azra Akšamija (Director, ACT).

Declaration

Our relation to the sky has gone through many eras. Today there is a race for Mars, new low orbit monopolies in the making, and billionaires tinkering with space tourism; The moon, once known as the god of wisdom and knowledge, has become a temptation for rare earths; Young lovers, absorbed in their phones, monitor astrological shifts, hoping Venus, the planet of love, will bestow favorable fortunes; Satellites bring the Internet to distant rural areas in the world, while flashing across the night – becoming familiar sights to city dwellers and indigenous stargazers alike; Just recently microplastics have been found in clouds for the first time; New international conflicts transformed the sky back into a source of dread. We realize the sky can’t be considered a mere canvas anymore, but has always been an intrinsic part of human history and culture.

It is time for the next chapter of sky art: The increasingly complex sky is simultaneously spiritual, emotional, scientific, and vital, thus asking for new perspectives. We build upon the legacy of Otto Piene and the pioneering works of CAVS, whose ethos with their poetic and peaceful spirits, resonates with new layers of today’s sentiments and perspectives in the air —

More Sky!