Formation of the Sun | Jacqueline Hen | Light Art Grindelwald 2022.mp4

Through all times, societies seem to be invested in getting to know and telling origin stories about humankind and the world. Whether we perceive knowledge production as scientific or mythical, what‘s palpable is an urge to ensure oneself (or as a society) about one relation within nature. More often than not, the sun becomes an essential actor in those explanatory models.

The installation Formation of the Sun refers to the Collision Theory. This astronomical

model says that the solar system and following life on our planet might be the consequence of a collision between the milky way and a neighboring galaxy called Sagittarius. Through this encounter, a solar nebular was created that, through gravitation and time, densified into the sun, making life on earth possible.

In the installation, a walkable golden sphere is permeated by two light beams that collide in its center. The light is scattered in all directions through a mirrored artifact, slowly rotating between two circles of light that are pulling the sphere towards the collision point. The space is filled with haze and a droning sound – a sonification of the sun‘s surface recorded by NASA.

Through the amalgamation of light, haze, and sound, the artwork creates an immersive

and emotional space that aims to blur boundaries between scientific and mythical ways of thinking. Its ambivalent character tries to question the necessity of a universal, all-encompassing narrative while celebrating the capabilities of the modern

sciences.

How does astronomical knowledge impacts our relationship to everyday life?

What stories need to be told and related to that allow existing as part of that thin layer of the planet earth that sustains life? What ideas oscillate between order and chaos that outpace economics-drenched

epistemologies?

Concept & Realization: Jacqueline Hen

Assistant: Hannah Loibl