the universe makers

Bianca Salvo is a visual artist mainly working with photography and exploring the connections between belief and the image. Graduated in 2012 with an MA in Photography at London College of Communication, she currently live in Milan where she's lecturer at the Istituto Europeo di Design.

The project The Universe Makers (2016-2017) is the result of a one-year research on space imagery and is presented as an enquire on representative patterns and figurative models upon which our pop culture psyche bases and which still nowadays profoundly influence our attitudes toward the scientific and the outer space. Through this body of work, I wanted to explore the character photography, technology, science fiction and other media have played in producing evidences that still address our collective imagery towards believes, fake conceptions and constructed scenarios.

The future of civilization is certainly a matter of concern for humanity: from the appearance on TV of the First Man on the Moon in 1969, to the recent mission of Mars ONE promising to inaugurate a permanent human settlement on Mars, the possibility of life beyond Earth has established itself concretely in our minds.

Documents and visual records collected over the past years from Institutions and Research Centres have had a fundamental role in providing us with vivid depictions of the remote universe and realistic proofs of space exploration’s feasibility. On the other hands, science fiction massively contributed, in setting up our idea of an outward infinite galaxy, waiting for us to be explored, studied and colonized, suggesting situations in between the bizarre and the truth.

Using these assumptions as a starting point, I have collected documents and images questioning their informative function, besides, according to my practice, I have began a process of intervention of these records with the aim to challenge their authenticity. I have established a parallel dialogue between ultimate proofs and fake results transforming factual evidences into unrealistic scenarios.

The project conceived under the form of a multi-layered installation comprises texts, sculptured objects, archival images, still photographs and a photo-book and it points to explore abstractions of the collective unconscious related to our perception of the outward space.

© Bianca Salvo - In event of Moon disaster
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In event of Moon disaster

© Bianca Salvo - Earthman Come Home, ION ROCKET
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Earthman Come Home, ION ROCKET

© Bianca Salvo - A true expedition #1
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A true expedition #1

© Bianca Salvo - The day the Earth Stood Still
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The day the Earth Stood Still

© Bianca Salvo - Earthman Come Home, ATLAS
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Earthman Come Home, ATLAS

© Bianca Salvo - A true expedition #2
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A true expedition #2

© Bianca Salvo - The Stars my Destination
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The Stars my Destination

© Bianca Salvo - In event of Moon disaster, Letter
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In event of Moon disaster, Letter

© Bianca Salvo - Time and Again
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Time and Again

© Bianca Salvo - A true expedition #3
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A true expedition #3

© Bianca Salvo - The Universe Makers
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The Universe Makers

© Bianca Salvo - A true expedition #4
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A true expedition #4

© Bianca Salvo - Earthman Come Home, A9-A10
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Earthman Come Home, A9-A10

© Bianca Salvo - In event of Moon disaster, Astrounaut
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In event of Moon disaster, Astrounaut

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