Image by Charlie Hillhouse
CELESTON 2
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The CELESTON 2 exhibition is an extension on a video work (CELESTON 1) Man&Wah created during the Museum of Brisbane (MoB) Artists@Home Residency Program during the COVID-19 forced lockdown in early 2020. ​CELESTON 2 was part of the Ars Electronica 2020 Festival for Art, Technology & Society - exploring the theme of Kepler’s Garden, and was a feature program in the international festival in both physical and virtual spaces.
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CELESTON 2 featured large scale floor to ceiling vinyl wall displays of cosmic botanical montages titled “INTERCONNECTEDNESS”. The feature wall wraps around the corner into the ambiently hallway lit with neon floor lights. The foyer section of the installation displayed a flush built in digital screen showcasing the CELESTON 2 video works.
The project featured the music of Jonn Serrie, a renowned composer of planetarium and space ambient music, sonically connecting all the works, setting the ambience and deepen the immersive experience of the CELESTON 2 space.
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Series 4 - Interconnectedness 1. 2020
Metallic digital print
1.0m W x 1.5m H
Planetary graphics (top to bottom): University of Arizona/LPL, NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington, ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona), NASA, ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy/Observatoire de Paris, NASA/JPL
Series 4 - Interconnectedness 2. 2020
Metallic digital print
1.0m W x 1.5m H
Planetary graphics (top to bottom): NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute, NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, NASA/JPL, NASA/SDO
​(Excerpt below is from The Weekend Edition interview):
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Weekend Edition: "The work undertaken during this residency helped form the foundations for your newest exhibition CELESTON 2. What can you tell us about this work in regards to its inspirations, creation and the message you hope it communicates to audiences?
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Man&Wah: “The MoB Artsist@Home residency program was a good foundation because there were multiple directions of exploration and creation for CELESTON 1. Then being invited by MoB to create works in conjunction with the Ars Electronica Festival was a natural progression – expanding the ideas of CELESTON 1 into CELESTON 2. Being able to take some of those ideas from the digital realm and into the physical space at MoB was exciting”.
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(Below) Hallway Montage
Series 2 - Interconnectedness 4.1 2020
Digital print
Planetary graphics (left to right): University of Arizona / LPL, NASA/Johns Hopkins, University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington, NASA/JPL, ESA/Hubble, NASA, A. Simon (GSFC) and the OPAL Team, J. DePasquale (STScI), L. Lamy, (Observatoire de Paris), NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI, NASA/SDO, NASA, J. BELL (Cornell University), M.Wolff (SSI) & the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy/Observatoire de Paris
(Above montage & below images) Series of selected screen-shots from the INTERCONNECTEDNESS video work.
(Below videos) During the residency Man&Wah created a series of behind-the-scene videos during installation (thanks to Juanlu for capturing the time lapse of the foyer construction). (Bottom video) Artist Studio Profile documentary of Man&Wah produced by Museum of Brisbane & Ars Electronica, filmed and edited by Charlie Hillhouse.
(Top montage image) A section of the featured cosmic botanical montage wall along the Museum of Brisbane foyer. (Above flower image) Large format Fine Art Acrylic print of a flame tree flower (from the Series 4 - Interconnectedness photo print series) hung along the hallway at the Museum of Brisbane.
(Below images) For the residency Man&Wah created a series of cosmic botanical print merchandise in conjunction with the CELESTON 2 exhibition which included postcards, greeting cards and posters, all available at the MoB shop online or instore.
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(Below images) For the CELESTON 2 exhibition Man&Wah did a live web broadcast Q&A for an international audience as a part of the Ars Electronica 2020 Festival for Art, Technology & Society program. As part of the exhibition program Man&Wah facilitated a series of photographic and video workshops, inspiring participants to express their own creative skills and transmit their own stories through video and photographic technology.
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...and big ups to the awesome crew at MoB for their support to help make CELESTON 2 happen & also capturing some install footage. Thanks also to Ars Electronica and lastly to Colour Chiefs for the slick wall paper print job & install.