This work was to be created in February, when the robot « Perseverance » landed on planet Mars (the pandemic got the better of this timing). This impulsed the « Spectroscopy » theme of the installation. Indeed, the « head » of Perseverance robot is equipped with a scientific instrument, a technological jewel called SuperCam, which uses spectroscopy. Spectroscopy being the science of light or the filtering of light, my installation refers to it by the use of a filtered light and a multitude of mirrors that play on the reflection of light. In astrophysics, the photon (particle of light) is a vector of information, which explains the play of light and reflection of the work.
The installation in addition to being visual is also an audio one. Indeed, we hear the sounds of spectroscopy on the planet Mars, that is to say the impact of the laser on the rock, which heats it to 8000 degrees, to make a supersonic plasma. The sound collected is studied by the researchers, in order to measure the sound of this impact and say what scientific information could be deduced from it. Baptiste Chide, an astrophysicist working on Martian sound, and Sylvestre Maurice, co-designer of the SuperCam, have provided me, through NASA, these sounds for the installation. This is a world first!
Photo Credit : Caroline Gueye for photos and videos.
“Spectroscopy”
Installation: Cité de l’espace, Toulouse, France
Mirror: 300 cm x 210 cm x 500 cm
Year : 2021