Want to send a favourite photo to the moon and back?
OPTICKS is a Cosmic Mail Art performance between the Earth and the Moon, by interdisciplinary artist Daniela de Paulis, in collaboration with radio operators from around the world. Digital images are transmitted as radio signals to the Moon and reflected back on Earth, where they are shown as they return from their journey in real time.
This special Hebridean Dark Skies Festival event will be streamed live online by the Wow Signal Podcast.
The project uses ‘Visual Moonbounce’, developed by Daniela de Paulis in collaboration with the CAMRAS team during her residency at the Dwingeloo radio telescope in the Netherlands in 2009. Moonbounce technology was used during the Cold War by the U.S Military Navy as an espionage tool until it was replaced by artificial satellites in the late 50s; however radio amateurs still employ it as a playful and experimental form of international communication.
Daniela de Paulis’s previous ‘Visual Moonbounces’ include a family photograph – pictured above – that NASA astronaut Charles Duke had originally left on the surface of the Moon in 1972. The image was transmitted from a radio station in Italy and was received by the Dwingeloo radio telescope after two and a half seconds, crossing approximately 768,000 Km, the distance to the Moon and back. Daniela de Paulis printed the Moon-reflected family portrait and sent it as a postcard to Charles Duke, who replied: ‘Daniela, I think it’s amazing you can do that’.
Want to spend the whole day with us? Entry to OPTICKS is included in the day ticket for A Day of Creativity and Curiosity, a whole day of events programmed by An Lanntair in partnership with Creativity and Curiosity lead artists Ione Parkin and Gillian McFarland. Buy a day ticket here.
Part of the Hebridean Dark Skies Festival.