I am really delighted to be part of this exhibition and project with Melissa Grant, Oliver De Peyer, Paul Shepherd, Anna Dumitriu, Alex May. The others have done the lions share but have been incredibly generous in allowing my enthusiasm for their work to form a contribution which will be in the form of an autopsy of the crumpled HAB (HIgh Altitude Bioprospecting ) device which was a research project initiated by biochemist Dr Melissa Grant from the School of Dentistry at the University of Birmingham, lab robotics researcher Oliver de Preyer and mathematician Paul Shepherd, they have searched for microorganisms adapted to life in space in order to consider their novel uses in biotechnology. Artists Anna Dumitriu and Alex May have been collaborating to produce a series of artworks that re-live the excitement of the original rocket launch in the Nevada Desert, the horror of a failed parachute and the despair of a crushed robot.
The exhibition also incorporates video-mapped archive films and sculpturally altered relics of the original launch, such as weather balloons, environmental samples from the black rock desert and extremophile bacteria.
Preview at BOM onThursday 31 March 18:00 – 20:00pm
