Top image: Eduardo Kac, Ágora, space artwork, 5/16 x 5/16" [0.8x 0.8 cm]. Shown here is the holographic plate, illuminated with a green laser, as will be flown through deep space. The word “AGORA” is laser-projected on the wall directly from the hologram itself.
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Eduardo Kac Launches First Artwork to Deep Space
Eduardo Kac's artwork will launch into interplanetary space on May 4, 2023.
Ágora will be aboard the inaugural flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, as part of Celestis’ Enterprise mission. More precisely, Ágora will be permanently integrated into Centaur 5, the rocket’s second stage. After releasing other payloads, Centaur 5 will go beyond the Earth-Moon system, into deep space, and will orbit the Sun forever.
Ágora functions as a “potential star”. Floating through deep space, when retrieved and lit in the future, the hologram will again irradiate its luminous message.
First created in 1986, in Portuguese, Ágora has been 37 years in the making — Kac’s longest-running project to date.
Readable both as "Agora" ("now" in Portuguese) and "Ágora" ("public place" in Portuguese), the work takes the three-dimensional nature of its holographic medium and projects multi-directional meaning on the intersection between time and space. The form reflects the concept of "antigravitropism," a central tenet of Kac's holopoetry: the use of language in a way that does not reflect the perceivable effect of gravity on writing.
Eduardo Kac is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in contemporary art. Kac’s works are in major collections such as Museum of Modern Art-MoMA, New York; Tate Modern, London; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Museum Les Abattoirs—Frac Occitanie Toulouse, France; Valencian Institute of Modern Art-IVAM, Spain; Museum ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; and Museum of Contemporary Art of São Paulo, among others. Kac's work has been showcased in biennials such as Venice Biennale, Italy; Yokohama Triennial, Japan; Gwangju Biennale, Korea; Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Bienal de Habana, Cuba. A pioneer of space art, Eduardo Kac has been creating artworks in outer space since 1986.
For more information about Eduardo Kac’s previous space artworks, see:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/arts/design/eduardo-kac-inner-telescope-space.html?_r=0
https://www.ekac.org/kac_artpress_n502_sept_2022.pdf
Image/photo credits:
The making of Ágora, shot with a pulsed YAG laser at 532 nm on laboratory-made silver halide holographic emulsion.
Ágora in its titanium capsule, prior to the final integration into Centaur 5. Edition of 3.
At left: Artist Eduardo Kac.
