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IOSIS

Anders Solberg (NO)
2015, HD video, 16:42 min.

Trøndelag Center for Contemporary Art, March 30 – May 1, 2016

Lost in space – Anders Solberg – Iosis – Foto_Anders SolbergLost in space – Anders Solberg – Iosis – Foto_Anders Solberg

Anders Solberg’s digital video work, abstract and immersive, can be viewed as fluid or liquid paintings experienced through time. Depicting the metaphorical transmutation of lead into gold, the ascension from earthly, crude matter, into a higher, divine state. In the 1890s, inspired by Giovanni Schiaparelli’s discovery of “canals” on Mars, the American astronomer Percival Lowell decided to devote his fortune and energy to the study of Mars. He made intricate drawings of the surface of Mars and its markings, as he perceived them from his telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell made detailed description of the planet’s surface, of the “canals” and the “oases”, as he named the dark spots at their intersections.

He published his views in three books, which popularized the belief that these markings showed that Mars sustained intelligent life forms. Thinking that the Red Planet must have been covered by greenery. While this idea excited the public, the astronomical community met Lowell’s observations with scepticism. The existence of the canals were in the 1960’s definitively disproved by NASA’s Mariner missions, regarding these markings as an optical illusion. Even though Lowell’s observations were proven wrong, they have inspired some of the most highly regarded works in science fiction.

Dimensions: 1920X1080. Codec: AAC, H.264. Color Profile: HD (1-1-1). Duration: 16:42. Audio Channels: 2

Anders Solberg (b. 1984, Trondheim) is educated as a photographer at Norsk Fotofagskole and currently a student at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, NTNU.