Event 2: Cosmological Events Part 2

I recently attended the second part of the Cosmological Events online presentation, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about all the artist's works and projects. The events within this Cosmological series, have so far, being extremely interesting, and I would recommend them to any student taking the course! I didn't think I was super into this type of art as much, but it has been a very eye opening experience into new fields and looking at different media within this type of art. In particular there was one project that really stood out to me due to its unique media and creative interpretation. This was the work The Tapestry in Search of Terrestrial Intelligence, by Ranjit Bhatnagar. 

the tapestry of the search for terrestrial intelligence | moonmilk

This work highlights the distorted recording of the "Golden Record" woven into that of a 40 meter tapestry. Within the online event, Ranjit Bhatnagar presented a video clip of the actual tapestry from start to finish. This was very interesting to me as it looked very artistic while also clearly showing the encoded message from the "Golden Record". This "Golden Record" I keep referring to is a record filled with sounds from Earth that was sent into space in 1977 on a voyager, with the intention to help any extraterrestrials understand humans as a life form if the record was found (Bhatnagar). According to NASA, "The message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth," (NASA Website). After reading this, I understood the importance and significance of this record, and how it's content might be considered an art form when studied. 

How the Voyager Golden Record Was Made | The New Yorker

I decided to visit Bhatnagar's page to read up on some more information about his rendition of this scientific tool. I found that during his process of uncovering the image content from the audio record through photoshop, Bhatnagar's results were very distorted and almost artistically flowy. Bhatnagar claimed,"I didn’t try to apply any image correction techniques, because I thought it was beautiful in its distorted form. When Science Gallery gave me the opportunity to exhibit it, I had it woven as a tapestry on computerized looms," (Bhatnagar). This statement shows the true artistic and scientific processed of Ranjit Bhatnagar coming together, as he took scientific data, and looked creatively into its artistic potential. 

the tapestry of the search for terrestrial intelligence | moonmilk

Overall, I know I didn't go into complete depth about the online event itself, however I was extremely interested in this specific artist and his work, so I decided to do my own research and look into the project further. This is another reason why I would highly recommend attending the Cosmological Events series, as you might find great interest in a creative and unique art piece, and better yet, you get first hand experience with the actual artist who created the work!

 


Citations

“Artists.” Cosmological Elements, cosmoselements.art/Artists. 

Ranjit, and Ranjit. “The Tapestry of the Search for Terrestrial Intelligence.” Moonmilk, 10 July 2018, moonmilk.com/2018/07/10/the-tapestry-of-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence/. 

“Voyager - the Golden Record.” NASA, voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/. 


Photo Citations

Ferris, Timothy. “How The Voyager Golden Record Was Made.” The New Yorker, 20 Aug. 2017, www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/voyager-golden-record-40th-anniversary-timothy-ferris. 

Ranjit, and Ranjit. “The Tapestry of the Search for Terrestrial Intelligence.” Moonmilk, 10 July 2018, moonmilk.com/2018/07/10/the-tapestry-of-the-search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence/. 

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