14 May 2014
Space photography from the 19th century to the present day, recounted through 150 images of heavenly bodies, nebulas and simulations of the surface of Mars constructed by NASA. Buzz Aldrin immortalized immediately after landing on the Moon and his celebrated photo of a footprint in lunar dust, but also the great comet photographed in 1882 and the first color picture of space, taken in 1958. It is difficult to assign a date to the photographs, as if the timeless nature of those scenes were an obstacle to reconstructing when and why they were taken. Regarded as aesthetic objects, they seem to be saying that for humanity the encounter with deep space brings with it something of the changeless, reflected in the way in which it is represented: a distant observation that always remains the same in its infinite variations, made up of forms that the camera is not really able to capture, able to do no more than contemplate the immensity and remoteness of space and a beauty that is expressed in different categories from the ones with which we are familiar.
Zero Gravity. The History of Space Photography
Curated by Jay Belloli
WestLicht, Vienna
April, 10 – May 25, 2014
Markus Krottendorfen, JPL Mars Yard, USA 2013.
Apollo 11, Astronaut’s footprint on the moon, July 1969. WestLicht Collection, Vienna.
Sediments on mouth of amazon river, Space Shuttle, 1992. © NASA, Johnson Space Center.
Galaxy Messier 101, Spitzer space telescope, 2009. © NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Gordon.
Hubble ultra deep field, Hubble space telescope, 2003-2004. © NASA/ESA/N. Pirzkal.
Mars, Viking spacecraft. © NASA/JPL/USGS, Susanne Pieth, German Aerospace Center.
Earth, Apollo 17 Mission, December 1972. © NASA/Johnson Space Center, courtesy Mike Gentry.
Solar Prominence, Palomar Observatory, California, 1946. © The Carnegie Observatories.
Great Comet of 1882, David Gill, 1882. © South African Astronomical Observatory.
The first space photograph on colour film. Bill Miller, Mount Wilson Observatory, California, 1958. © David Malin Images/Caltech.
Apollo 11, Edwin Buzz Aldrin on the moon, July 1969. WestLicht Collection, Vienna.