A Visual Reinterpretation of Outer Space
03 December 2018 - Written by PhMuseum
After conducting extensive research into the representation of Space, Bianca Salvo presents a multi-layered project that looks to reinterpret our common perception of science and the observable universe.
The Universe Makers is the result of a one-year research project centred on space imagery and is presented as an enquiry into representative patterns and figurative models upon which our pop culture psyche in based, and which still profoundly influences our attitudes toward science and outer space today. Through this body of work, I wanted to explore the character photography, technology, science fiction and other media have played in producing evidence that still forms our collective imagination towards beliefs, fake conceptions and constructed scenarios.
The future of civilisation is certainly a matter of concern for humanity: from the appearance on television of the First Man on the Moon in 1969, to the recent mission of Mars ONE promising to inaugurate a permanent human settlement on the planet, the possibility of life beyond Earth has established itself concretely in our minds.
Documents and visual records collected over the previous years from institutions and Research Centres have had a fundamental role in providing us with vivid depictions of the remote universe and realistic proof of space exploration’s feasibility. It can also be said that science fiction contributed massively in setting up our idea of an outward infinite galaxy, waiting to be explored, studied and colonised, 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 and begun a process of intervention of these records with the aim of challenging their authenticity. I have established a parallel dialogue between ultimate proof and fake results, transforming factual evidence into unrealistic scenarios.
The project is conceived under the form of a multi-layered installation comprised of texts, sculptured objects, archival images, still photographs and a photobook and it looks to explore abstractions of the collective unconscious related to our perception of outward space.
Words and Pictures by Bianca Salvo.
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Bianca Salvo is a visual artist working with photography to explore the connections between fact and fiction. Having graduated in 2012 with an MA in Photography at London College of Communication, she currently lives and works between Milan, Italy and Bogotà, Colombia. Find her on PHmuseum, Twitter, and Instagram.
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This feature is part of Story of the Week, a selection of relevant projects from our community handpicked by the PHmuseum curators.