“Agora”, the first work of art in deep space

Brazilian-American plastic artist Eduardo Kac is finishing the final details of his most ambitious work, Agoraa project that began 37 years ago and which, when placed in heliocentric orbit, will become the first artwork to be exhibited in deep space.

It consists of a hologram with a word Agora which, as the artist explains, functions as a “potential star”, because “once illuminated by a laser, the work of art will emit its visual content in the form of light”.

“It looks like a piece of clear glass. Visual information is encoded in a hologram. So when the artwork is illuminated with a laser, the visual content can be seen because the hologram will emit light to reveal its coded message. That light spreads in space, like light coming from a star,” said the Rio de Janeiro-born artist.

For Kac, a contemporary artist whose works are in the collections of institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Tate Modern in London or the Museo Reina Sofía in Spain, Agora it is the longest running project he has embarked on so far.

Vulcan Centaur rocket

“It’s very difficult to work in deep space,” Kac explained, adding that he had been trying for decades to find a way to access beyond low Earth orbit, a path he finally got with the future first flight of the Vulcan Centaur rocket. , from United Launch Alliance (ULA). The company hopes to be able to launch the first of its new series of rockets by the end of the year, from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA).

Agora It will be permanently integrated into Centaur V, the second stage of the ULA rocket and in which will travel the cargo sent by the company Celestis, consisting of about 320 capsules with also mostly cremated human remains (90%) as DNA samples (10%).

“Star Trek”

The name of the trip is not free: among the remains and DNA samples that the rocket will carry are those of the creator of the “Star Trek” series Gene Roddenberry, as well as members of the original cast such as Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, Majel Barrett Roddenberry and DeForestKelley.