Space Messengers is a large-scale projection where the collective ‘space’ messages and voices of youth participants are live mixed and projected along with their animated silhouettes on to buildings at international festivals.
We are living in an extraordinary time for scientific and technological advancements that are expanding our understanding of the universe. At the same time we are faced with the challenges of climate change and species extinction. Through our STEMarts International exchange program and STEMarts Curriculum Tool we collaborate with teachers and youth around the world to raise awareness to the importance of scientific literacy and the ethical impacts of new technologies on nature and society. Our hope is to inspire our youth and communities to become more informed global citizens and stewards of the interplanetary universe that is now our home. Exploring at the intersection of the arts, humanities and philosophy with science and technology we contemplate and re-imagine our humanity through this immersive art experience.
Space Messengers visualizes data. The installation generates and projects text messages collected from students that participated in an international youth exchange between Oerias Portugal and Taos New Mexico. Using a custom-designed platform we call the Space Board, students co-write messages communicating the science they learned and sharing their thoughts and wishes for a sustainable interplanetary future. These messages are seen floating on the wall along with interactive video-captured silhouettes of students from around the world.
Space Messengers is participatory. The live audience can text their own space messages which appear on the wall in real time during the event. A virtual reality platform will include a live stream of the projection from the event. Through this mixed reality experience participants at the site or at home where ever they are can become part of the experience radiating their space messages out to the world!
Launch Date: Festival de Ciencia e Arte (FICA), Oeiras, Portugal, October 15-17, 2021 for the live projection. Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico for the Global Virtual Reality VR experience.
Contact us if you would like to bring Space Messengers to your festival or event. Next stop…Guadalajara, Mexico + Santa Fe, New Mexico!
This project is made possible in part by the Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund for U.S. Alumni; an opportunity sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by Partners of the Americas. Thanks also to our sponsors at the U.S. Embassy of Portugal, Taos Community Foundation, LANL Foundation and the MAE Foundation. Special thanks to our educational partners: IPPOG, ATLAS@CERN and Quarknet.
STEMarts Lab Team
Lead Artists: Agnes Chavez, Creative Director/Artist; Markus Dorninger, Projection artist with OMAi team; Roy MacDonald, creative coder; Mattieu Castel, VR designer; David Novack, Sound engineer, with Joao Espadas.
Interdisciplinary speakers/facilitators: Dr. Steven Goldfarb, University of Melbourne on the ATLAS Experiment at CERN; Dr. Nicole Lloyd-Ronning, LANL astrophysicist; Steve Tamayo, Lakota Cultural Specialist; Dr. Catarina Pombo Nabais, Philosophy of Science/University of Lisbon; Frank Tavares, NASA Communication Specialist; Curriculum Advisors: Shane Wood, Quarknet staff; Dr. Greg Cajete, Native-American Author/cultural specialist. Visual Program Designer: Estacia Huddleston. Multi-media/Tech development and support: OMAi/Tagtool team/Josef Dorninger and Matthias Fritz; Enrico Trujillo, University of New Mexico. STEAM Ambassadors: Dania Loya, New Mexico; Joana D’Arc Moreira, Brazil; Amina Abdrazakova, Canada; Amelia Martinez and Elsie Clayton, Taos New Mexico
