The 36 minute video The Color Out of Space (2015) forms part of a sculptural film installation which extends the probing of deep time into outer space. It is composed of images of stars and space gathered at Hirsch Observatory at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute. The accompanying soundtrack comprises the voices of scientists, artists, and writers reflecting on the universe and its enigmas. An astronomer describes the use of colored glass filters in the imaging of celestial bodies: without these, what the human eye can make out through a telescope are, basically, “white or gray blobs.” Artistic investigation and scientific inquiry reveal themselves as essentially speculative endeavors.
Voices collaged by composer Jan St Werner from interviews, fictions, and readings by artists and astronomers from around the world, including Ingrid Wiener, Georgia Horn, Emma Hedditch, Barbara Hammer, Laetitia Sadier, Evan Calder Williams, Jimmy Robert, Jean-Pierre Luminet, Colin Attwood, Daphne Beal, Heidi Newberg, Matthew Newby, and Oswald Wiener. The piece hovered at the speculative intersection of astronomy and art.
produced by EMPAC—The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY and MIT List Art Center, Cambridge, US
The Color Out of Space, 2015
HD video, color, sound, 36 min, 5 colored glass filters, steel base
Image 1: Installation view at Old Powerhouse, Pafos, 2017. Photo: Orestis Lambrou © Rosa Barba
Image 2: Installation view at MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge MA, 2015. Photo: Peter Harris © Rosa Barba
The Color Out of Space, 2015 has been on display at the following locations:
Galerie der Kustodie im Görges-Bau, TU Dresden, 2023
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, 2023
cccod, Tours, 2022
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, 2020
Sammlung Hoffmann, 2020
Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, 2019
Kunsthaus Zürich, 2019
Kunsthalle Bremen, 2018
Remai Modern, Saskatoon, 2018
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek, DK, 2018
Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Mannheim, 2017
The Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, Florida, 2017
Pafos, 2017
nbk, Berlin, 2016
Parra Romero, Madrid, 2016
MIT List Visual Art Center, 2015