NAME:

Oded Ben-Horin / for the Global Science Opera

NATIONALITY:

USA

BASED IN:

Norway

WEBSITE:

http://www.globalscienceopera.com

ABOUT ARTIST:

Throughout history, art has been understood and practiced in many ways. The artistic process in “Moon Village – a Global Science Opera” is exercised through cross-country and inter-disciplinary collaboration. The enactment of our art may be found in the very crossing of those boundaries within a creative educational framework. As our art reaches the moon, a new dimension is opened through which we may turn and gaze back at Earth, observe our process from above, reflect upon it, and continuously develop our art. For this we are grateful.

SUBMISSION: Moon Village - a Global Science Opera

“Moon Village – a Global Science Opera” is both an art installation and an educational opera. A Nano memory card containing the opera lies at the installation’s heart. The opera was produced by a global community of schools, artists, and scientists in dialogue with the European Space Agency Technology Center (ESTEC). It was co-created by hundreds of people around the world who relied on inter-disciplinary work which crossed boundaries of geography, politics, religion and age.

Inspired by ESA’s vision of a future Moon Village, the opera is set in the year 2040. It tells the story of the first children born on the moon. The opera deals with questions about education on the moon, and what the concept of creativity might imply in a future school on the moon. The youngsters’ creative inquiries lead them to declare independence from Earth, but in order to achieve this they will first need to trick Gravity.

The art installation’s Nano memory card is placed inside a protective woolen bag. Wool is a natural anti-flamable, anti-septic organic material which will protect the nano-card upon impact. Wool is flexible and versatile. Felting has a history stretching back millennia, both as an artistic and practical material. The tiny woolen bag containing the Nano memory card is placed inside a specially-designed capsule which will hold the bag and its contents in place during their journey. The challenge was to find enough space for the Nano memory card and its protective woolen bag while still ensuring we have enough supporting material to hold the capsule together. The Nano memory card and its protective bag are therefore placed diagonally within the capsule in order to maximize the available space. The capsule will be printed with a 3D printer of extremely high resolution before sending it to the moon as part of the MoonGallery.