FRI 18 NOV 6:30PM: By invitation only, the opening of the Inevitable Ether exhibition and discussion panel with the artists in residence at Greywood and the NSC.
The Inevitable Ether Exhibition showcases work and research by Emilia Tapprest and Valerie van Zuijlen, artists-in-residence at Greywood Arts and the National Space Centre. Valerie and Emilia will use their residency to film and develop immersive and poetic scenes for their docu-fiction film project Our Side of the Moon. Audiences will have a window into the artist’s practice through the use of multi-screen setups that map the mood and rhetoric of this particular moment in time in relation to space.
Our Side of the Moon follows a group of individuals who are drawn to an archaic form of radio-communication that bounces messages off the moon and puts them in contact with strangers around the world. The story follows Diana, a brilliant young radio astronomer living under the Dwingeloo radio telescope in the Netherlands, and her ‘moonbouncing’ penpal Atari, based at the squatted Elfordstown Earthstation. Marked by a chronic mutism, Diana possesses a special skill: sound-to-movement synesthesia, a condition which allows her to ‘feel’ sound as muscular responses in her body. A strange radio message that bounces off the moon’s surface every day is rumoured to be a response to the legendary space probes Voyager 1 and 2, however, Diana’s synesthetic capabilities allow her to discover a different truth, which catapults her into a journey to the other side of the moon…
Alongside the video installation will be collaborative works created by 100 young people from St. Fergals National School (Killeagh), Gaelscoil Mhainister na Corann (Midleton), and the Greywood Arts Youth Club that have participated in our STEAM programme. Facilitated by artist Roisín White, young people have learned how both photographs and space telescopes use light to give us pictures of the past. The young artists have created photographic images that utilise Morse code to project their questions for the universe into outer space.
Artists’ Biographies
Emilia Tapprest (b. 1992, FI) strives to foster sensibilities beyond default perceptions of reality In her work as an artist and filmmaker. While this inquiry initially found an expression in hands-on prototyping with tangible user interfaces and physiological computing, in the course of the past five years she has become increasingly aware of the role of stories and mental models in shaping our lives. As follows, she approaches worldbuilding as a narrative- and systems design practice structured around the construction of imaginary yet possible (future) worlds driven by different knowledge- and value paradigms. Currently based in Amsterdam, Tapprest is part of the research duo Liminal Vision together with cultural historian Victor Evink. Her collaborative practice develops through a web of interlinked projects, from cinematic fictions and installations to performative talks and academic articles.
With a collaborative- and industrial design master at the Aalto University in Helsinki, Tapprest graduated with a second degree in fine arts and film at the Sandberg Institute in 2019. Alumni of the Jan van Eyck academy (2021) and FilmForward (2021), she is currently enrolled at Stimuleringsfonds’ Talent Development programme (2021-2022). Her works have been shown in international exhibitions and film festivals such as IMPAKT – Speculative Interfaces (2019), DEMO moving image (2020), VISIO – Lo schermo dell’arte (2021), Vdrome (2021) and Bologna Art City (2022).
Valerie van Zuijlen (b. 1994, NL) is a visual artist, filmmaker and art director from the Netherlands. She develops a cross-disciplinary practice in audiovisual storytelling in a way in which different fields become intertwined with one another. Dealing with topics such as virtual presence, ambient communication and belonging, her work has won several prizes and awards and has been presented in New York, Hong Kong and throughout Europe. Next to her artistic research, she is founder and director of @LABNEST, an incubator and accelerator for entrepreneurs and startups based in Ede in the Netherlands. Reflecting her long-standing fascination with the aerodrome and its extensions within the ether, van Zuijlen is a licensed drone operator and soon-to-become helicopter pilot.
With a background in Graphic Design (BA”16), van Zuijlen carried out two Master degrees at Universities separated by an ocean; Film, Design & Politics (Sandberg Insituut, MA”19) and Cinema Studies (NYU | Tisch, MA”20). Several of her projects have been presented and screened internationally: Scrolling into the Deep (Depot Basel, Basel, CH, “16), The Cellular Aura (The Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, NL, “17), The Ghetto of Angels (Sonic Acts, Amsterdam, NL, “18), VISION061718 (Pineapple Underground Film Festival, Hong Kong, CN, “18), AIREAL (Neverneverland, Amsterdam, NL, “19), Moonlight (GLOW International Light Festival, Eindhoven, NL, “19) and The Octopus Network (Symbiosis, Imagine Science Film Festival, New York, U.S.A, “20).