Galaxy

From the sky to the basement and through the ether, Galaxy is an exploration of a family territory east of Santerre, on the border between the Somme and the Aisne. 

In this flat countryside, the horizontal line separating the sky from the earth gives the impression of a “membrane-landscape.” What if the air and the ground here were more alive than we realize? What if the membrane began to vibrate and ring out?

This collaborative research project takes as its fields of exploration a skydiving club, an agronomy institute, and a group of underground explorers, and as its medium the re-creation of a former local radio station, Galaxie. We will observe bodies falling from the sky, others moving underground, and still others measuring and studying it, while voices and stories travel over the medium-wave band to spread through the air and settle over the landscape, weaving an esoteric narrative—a fragile pathway to a local otherworld.

As part of the Institute’s Fellowship, and in conjunction with a feature-length documentary project currently in development, Simon Ripoll-Hurier will produce and organize a collection of materials to structure them into narratives and spatial arrangements. Video, audio, textual, and photographic works will be combined in the form of installations, performances, and publications.