6 COGITO in Space
39
concept deeply influenced the development of COGITO in Space. The immersive
video I created especially for the project in collaboration with film maker Sandro
Bocci, aims at evoking the Overview Effect while at the same time leaving space for
open interpretation and critique rather than functioning as an outreach platform by
endorsing a particular current of thought. The video includes some of the footage
captured by the camera onboard the International Space Station, showing the curvature of the Earth as the station rotates. The footage however is greatly reinterpreted,
combining the documentarist material with experimental film techniques evoking in
the viewer memories, an aesthetic experience as well as sensory feedback.
The images mimicking organic forms, intend to induce flickering, ancestral memories of our evolutionary past, from stellar dust up to our present place in the cosmos,
for which the evolutionary history of the universe, life, consciousness is perceived as
a narrative intrinsic to one’s body and mind. The footage in virtual reality manages to
bring the images as close as possible to the retina, engaging the deep mind directly,
rather than creating a field of view. Combining experimental footage with realistic
views of the Earth seen from space, the video attempts to disrupt the familiar image
of our home planet, inducing a more introspective journey into the perception of
our place in the cosmos, delving more deeply into subjective memories and mental
associations.
Towards the end, the video shows the iconic Blue Marble image, taken during
the last manned lunar mission in 1972: supposed to show humankind its place in
the cosmos, the photo seems to emphasize instead that we know our home planet
only through photos. We don’t know our home, we only know it through our subjective interpretation of the image, filtered through our individual memory and thought
process. In my opinion, the lack of understanding of our home planet plays an important role in the struggle for the search of our identity as earthlings and our role in the
universe. By receiving feedback from some of the project’s participants, I realized
that the sight of the blue planet, following a series of abstract images, surprises the
viewer and inspires in her mind deep emotions of belonging and an almost mystical
resonance beyond thought (see Fig. 6.3).
From the start of the project, I was interested in the idea of sending brain waves
into space generated by the sight of our home planet, shifting the Earth-centred
perspective to the Cosmos-wide mindset. This vision seemed to me evocative of a
universal enough existential narrative, for which the human being is compelled to
explore the unknown while grieving the consequences of leaving a part of herself
behind.
COGITO in Space thus speculates about a hypothetical future in which humans
might be confronted with the possibility of leaving planet Earth for the void of outer
space. What would be the impact of this extreme journey on the human existential
condition? The poetical reference for this aspect of the project is the novel Solaris by
Stanislaw Lem, which addresses the psychological conflict of losing one’s identity
and memories of terrestrial life, letting go of one’s sense of belonging to Earth
during space travel. The experience of the project aims at creating a mirroring effect
between the unknowns of the cosmos and inner subjectivity, echoing the thoughts of
Dr. Kelvin, Solaris’s main character: “Man has gone out to explore other worlds and
39
concept deeply influenced the development of COGITO in Space. The immersive
video I created especially for the project in collaboration with film maker Sandro
Bocci, aims at evoking the Overview Effect while at the same time leaving space for
open interpretation and critique rather than functioning as an outreach platform by
endorsing a particular current of thought. The video includes some of the footage
captured by the camera onboard the International Space Station, showing the curvature of the Earth as the station rotates. The footage however is greatly reinterpreted,
combining the documentarist material with experimental film techniques evoking in
the viewer memories, an aesthetic experience as well as sensory feedback.
The images mimicking organic forms, intend to induce flickering, ancestral memories of our evolutionary past, from stellar dust up to our present place in the cosmos,
for which the evolutionary history of the universe, life, consciousness is perceived as
a narrative intrinsic to one’s body and mind. The footage in virtual reality manages to
bring the images as close as possible to the retina, engaging the deep mind directly,
rather than creating a field of view. Combining experimental footage with realistic
views of the Earth seen from space, the video attempts to disrupt the familiar image
of our home planet, inducing a more introspective journey into the perception of
our place in the cosmos, delving more deeply into subjective memories and mental
associations.
Towards the end, the video shows the iconic Blue Marble image, taken during
the last manned lunar mission in 1972: supposed to show humankind its place in
the cosmos, the photo seems to emphasize instead that we know our home planet
only through photos. We don’t know our home, we only know it through our subjective interpretation of the image, filtered through our individual memory and thought
process. In my opinion, the lack of understanding of our home planet plays an important role in the struggle for the search of our identity as earthlings and our role in the
universe. By receiving feedback from some of the project’s participants, I realized
that the sight of the blue planet, following a series of abstract images, surprises the
viewer and inspires in her mind deep emotions of belonging and an almost mystical
resonance beyond thought (see Fig. 6.3).
From the start of the project, I was interested in the idea of sending brain waves
into space generated by the sight of our home planet, shifting the Earth-centred
perspective to the Cosmos-wide mindset. This vision seemed to me evocative of a
universal enough existential narrative, for which the human being is compelled to
explore the unknown while grieving the consequences of leaving a part of herself
behind.
COGITO in Space thus speculates about a hypothetical future in which humans
might be confronted with the possibility of leaving planet Earth for the void of outer
space. What would be the impact of this extreme journey on the human existential
condition? The poetical reference for this aspect of the project is the novel Solaris by
Stanislaw Lem, which addresses the psychological conflict of losing one’s identity
and memories of terrestrial life, letting go of one’s sense of belonging to Earth
during space travel. The experience of the project aims at creating a mirroring effect
between the unknowns of the cosmos and inner subjectivity, echoing the thoughts of
Dr. Kelvin, Solaris’s main character: “Man has gone out to explore other worlds and