Tycho Brahe was the greatest astronomer of the 16th century, a Danish nobleman whose pursuit of astronomy was inspired by the desire to disprove Copernicus. Not satisfied with the ancient Ptolemaic system, he invented his own theory of planetary motion according to which the Earth remained stationary at the center of the universe with the sun, moon and stars revolving daily around it while the planets pursued their slower courses around the sun. A concatenation of errors all swept aside by his brilliant assistant, Kepler, who produced the first mathematically elegant heliocentric theory.
Tycho was one of the last astronomers to carry out all his work without a telescope as he died in 1601, shortly before its invention. Instead his observatory contained a great globe and numerous quadrants and astrolabes. It was thinking about the experience of being in this strange observatory that was in part to inspire this installation. It also happens that the work in luminous concrete has come to take on a shape approximating the monolith in the movie 2001, and that it was discovered by astronauts on the moon, according to the story, concealed under dust in the floor of the crater Tycho.
Paul Friedlander, July 2018.
Credits:
Produced by the ATA Program by NewArtFoundation, Eurecat and Beep Electronic Art Collection, based on a research project by Escofet.
Lux Aeterna by György Ligeti, performed by Cappella Amsterdam & Daniel Reuss, Courtesy of the artists and Harmonia Mundi / [PIAS]
