Message to the Extraterrestials
2007 - Installation (Installation)
Christoph Keller
Message to the Extraterrestrials consists of a slide projector beaming images into the side of the telescope. These are then reflected down to a mirror at the bottom of the telescope and from there to a mirror on the ceiling. From the ceiling the images bounce down to a mirror at floor level which projects the images through an open window to the world outside. The function of the telescope has been inverted and transformed from a receiver to a broadcaster of light. The images it projects are selected from the ‘Golden Record’ produced for the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 missions. These were intended to inform any extraterrestrials of life and culture on earth. Described by Ann Druyan, author and science media producer, as ‘a classic message in a bottle’ there was never any knowing whether, if viewed by an extraterrestrial, they would be able to decode the visual signals or not. The projection of these images by the Voyager spacecraft was at once an informative and a futile gesture. Ed Stone, Voyager’s project scientist, stated that “In a sense it is a unifying message. It’s a message from Earth. It contains greetings in many languages, music from many cultures and images that portray our home planet.”
Christoph Keller’s works function between science and art and have a practical as well as an aesthetic application. They are interventions into reality as well as inventions. Keller is fascinated by previous scientific undertakings such as Wilhelm Reich’s Cloudbuster project that Keller re-enacted from the roof of PS1 in an attempt to make rain over New York in the Spring and Summer of 2003 using orgone and nuclear energy. Keller’s stance is at once social political and artistic. He is engaged in debates around existence and the human condition. His project Helioflex is an attempt, using mirrors, to ‘bypass the social gradient of access to sunlight in urban habitations’, in other words to bring sunlight to areas normally in shadow at an affordable price. According to Keller the density of building generates a social gradient of sunlight in urban areas. The top floors bathe in light that is missing in the bottom floors. The device bypasses this gradient and creates a connection to the outside world by reflecting natural light to spaces that have never seen the sun before.’ Keller’s political engagement is in the tradition of Josef Beuys, who taught at the Free University in Berlin where Keller began to study physics in 1988. Christoph Keller is a German artist who studied math, physics and hydrology before studying liberal arts in Berlin. Christoph Keller was born in Fribourg, Germany, in 1967. He lives and works in Berlin.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Migrant Ecologies Project: A Grain of Wheat Inside a Salt Water Crocodile | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Grain of Wheat July 8, 2019 For the benefit of the possible intelligences that may find these treasures after humans have long gone, we have translated one of the photographs of our wheat gleaning ceremony in Singapore into binary code...
© » SLASH PARIS
Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine — Espace d’art contemporain Camille Lambert — Exposition — Slash Paris Connexion Newsletter Twitter Facebook Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine — Espace d’art contemporain Camille Lambert — Exposition — Slash Paris Français English Accueil Événements Artistes Lieux Magazine Vidéos Retour Précédent Suivant Natalia Jaime-Cortez — Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine Exposition Dessin, installations, techniques mixtes Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine 2023 Natalia Jaime-Cortez Natalia Jaime-Cortez Hier j’ai vu une baleine dans la Seine Encore environ 2 mois : 3 février → 30 mars 2024 Le travail de Natalia Jaime-Cortez se déploie, ou plutôt se déplie, et relève d’un engagement corporel de l’artiste dont les papiers suspendus viennent dessiner des lignes dans l’espace...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Shock Horror: The Southeast Asian monsters we love | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia ArtsEquator Viewpoints Illustrations by Divyalakshmi and Natalie Christian Tan November 1, 2021 ArtsEquator chats with five writers about their favourite horror characters and monsters from Southeast Asian lore and mythology...
© » KADIST
Hana Miletic
2019Incompatibles (Unitas) is made from discarded samples of the yarns that are exported from Croatia and not actually available in the local market...
© » ART & OBJECT
Zaha Hadid Architects Unveil Hydrogen Refueling Station, and More News | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...
© » PRISHTINA INSIGHT
Hague Court Cuts Kosovo’s Commander Cali’s Sentence by Four Years - Prishtina Insight Home Kallxo Jeta në Kosovë Drejtësia në Kosovë Gazeta JNK Log In Subscribe News Features Opinion Guide Big Deal Archive Follow @prishtinsight Former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) Commander Salih Mustafa (R) appears for the first public hearing before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, in The Hague, The Netherlands, 09 June 2021...
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
TeamLab Borderless, Tokyo interactive digital art museum, makes a comeback with boundary-breaking installations | South China Morning Post Advertisement Advertisement Asia travel + FOLLOW Get more with my NEWS A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you Learn more TeamLab co-founder Toshiyuki Inoko stands inside the “Bubble Universe” installation at the new teamLab Borderless, an interactive digital art museum in Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills development in Japan...
© » KADIST
Naoya Hatakeyama
Naoya Hatakeyama’s series Rikuzentakata (2011) documents the devastating aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan...
© » ARTS EQUATOR
The brutal examinations of "Constellation of Violence" | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Articles Hideto Maezawa October 8, 2019 By Patricia Tobin (561 words, 4-minute read) Constellation of Violence consists of a very simple setup: a giant screen on stage, a historian, two artists and a group of individuals...
© » KADIST
Bady Dalloul
2022With Inner Child , Bady Dalloul continues his ongoing reflection on migration and belonging, putting in balance levantine and Japanese histories...
© » TATE EXHIBITIONS
Bill Viola | Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery Discover the work of internationally renowned video artist Bill Viola at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) ARTIST ROOMS Bill Viola presents three works from the ‘Passions’, a series of video works created between 2000 and 2002 that explore human emotions...