Astro
An Immersive AudioVisual by
Weidi Zhang
CREDIT
VISUAL :
Weidi Zhang
SOUND :
Weilu Ge
3D ARTIST :
Shaoyu Su
Shows & Awards
2023
Astro_v3 Forum Des Images Paris (FR)
Astro_v3 Zeiss Planetarium, Berlin (GE)
Astro_v3 Mutek MX, Mexico (MX)
2022
Astro_v2 Earth Metaxis Festival
Planetarium 1 | Curated by Anastasia Skabelkina
St Petersberg -> Nyzhny Novgorod -> Erevan
Astro_v2 The Société des arts technologiques
MAY 5th - MAY 27th 2022
Expériences à vivre à la SAT | Montreal, Canada
Astro_v2 Prix Trame Sonore Award
SAT Fest at the Société des arts technologiques: Expériences à vivre à la SAT Montreal, Canada
Astro Semi-Finalist
flickers' rhode island international film festival
2021
Astro Fulldome Festival Jena Zeiss-Planetarium | Jena, Germany
Astro Dome Under Festival Melbourne Planetarium, Victoria Museum Melbourne, Australia
Astro Dome Fest West Orange Coast College Planetarium | California, US
Astro Fulldome UK IVT Dome Plymouth University | Plymouth, UK
Astro METAXIS Media Art Festival Planetarium 1 | Saint Petersberg, Russia
Astro_CityJungle [ Astro 1.5 ] City Light Art Museum Shenzhen, China
Astro_CityJungle [ Astro 1.5 ] was projection-mapped on the facade of the City Light Art Museum as the main opening show for this new museum.
About Astro
In 1970, a Zambia-based nun named Sister Mary Jucunda wrote to Dr.Stuhlinger, the associate director of science at NASA. In the letter, Sister Jucunda questioned how he can suggest spending billions of dollars on projects exploring Mars at a time when countless children suffered from poverty. Dr.Stuhlinger wrote back with an iconic image of earth taken in 1968 from the moon. He explained that the earth is a beautiful but vulnerable island in an unlimited void. In the letter, he mentioned “Although our space program seems to lead us away from our Earth and out toward the moon, the sun, the planets, and the stars, I believe that none of these celestial objects will find as much attention and study by space scientists as our Earth. It will become a better Earth, not only because of all the new technological and scientific knowledge which we will apply to the betterment of life, but also because we are developing a far deeper appreciation of our Earth, of life, and of man.“
In celebration of 60 anniversaries of the first-manned flight into space, Astro is invited to create as part of the Metaxis festival at planetarium 1 in St.Petersberg 2021. Inspired by Dr. Stuhlinger’s letter, Astro is an audio-visual artwork that examines the question of ‘why explore space’ from an artistic and imaginative point of view. In Astro, our earth, the only astronomical object known to harbor life, is unfolded through the lens of an intelligent being in outer space. As it rotates the lens to zoom in and out, the journey of observation brings the multi-scale discoveries of ecological changes and machinic visions with an artistic imagination: from a vast forest where the flames roar into the wild creatures to the melting iceberg revealing hidden information, from the diagrams of ancient pseudoscience (astrology) to the latent walk of AI’s generation, from the data-driven landscape to the algorithmic generative visuals, from climate change to the creature’s migration. This audio-visual work poses a question: why explore space in the context of known and unknown as well as folding and unfolding.
Explanations of audio-visual formats:
This work has been exhibited in multiple formats: 1. an immersive full-dome performance, 2. a projection on a facade as an extension of space. The concept of an alien's telescope allows this multi-platform screening.
Trailer [ 40 seconds ]
Full Video: Astro_v2
Please select 4k or at least 1080 HD to watch this video. This is the most recent version that is finished in 2022.
A Headphone is recommended for a better experience. [ 8 mins 15 seconds ]