Space Exploration: “All the universe is full of the lives of perfect creatures.” - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
When: 10 April 1:00 PM New York / 8:00 PM (20:00) St. Petersburg RU. This event is EST (UTC-5) & MSK (UTC +3).
Panelists: Olesya Turkina, Alexandra Dementieva, Andrey Bartenev, Matthew Lee
Moderator: Natalia Kolodzei
1 hour online discussion in Russian and English with simultaneous translation
Olesya Turkina is a senior researcher at the Russian Museum and an associate professor at St. Petersburg State University. She has been a full member of the Northwest Branch of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics since 1999. Since 1997, she has collaborated with the Museum of Jurassic Technology (Los Angeles), and since 2012 with KSEVT (Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies, Slovenia). She has curated countless exhibitions of contemporary art, including space-related shows, and has written numerous articles and books, including Soviet Space Dogs (FUEL, 2014).
Alexandra Dementieva is a multidisciplinary artist. Her installations use dance, music, cinema and performance. She raises questions related to social psychology and theories of perception, suggesting solutions to them by contemporary artistic means. Her works have been exhibited worldwide. Her recent essay in Leonardo “Homo Sapiens, Mnesitardigrada Class and Umwelt: A Dialogue on Interspecies” focuses on existing knowledge about interspecific communication and hypothesis about the spread of interplanetary civilizations. It is expressed as an imagined communication flow between a human earthling scientist and a Kquaanian–human hybrid who is an artist by earthly occupation.
Andrey Bartenev is a multimedia artist, sculptor, experimentalist, and creator of many provocative, interactive installations and performances. Bartenev, who since the 1990s has been known as the ‘Performance Man’ and the ‘Master of Installations’, perceives the world through contrasts of colors and volumes, textures and surfaces, an active interplay of materials and shapes. In 2002, he worked on a performance entitled "The Stairway of Red" in the summer center of the Watermill theatre in the Hamptons, NY. In 2007, Bartenev participated in “Click I Hope,” the Russian pavilion’s group exhibition at the 52nd Venice Biennale. In 2017, he took part in Burning Man Festival with the camp entitled “Aliens? Yes!”. In 2018, Bartenev won the Alternative Miss World as Miss UFO.
Matthew Lee is a poet and also a quantitative hedge fund manager. He holds a PhD in Physics from UCLA where he studied Theoretical Elementary Particles and also Non-linear Dynamics. He has dreampt about black holes since he was a child. And feels everyone should have a pet Tardigrade
SPONSORS:
The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 40 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks
Israel