Outer Space Transmitter
An artistic contribution to the REGIOPARL-project
Art and Science
REGIOPARL is a participatory research project. Besides the exchange between academia and politics, REGIOPARL attaches great importance to the dialogue about Europe with citizens.
In this spirit, REGIOPARL published a call for artistic contributions for the public space. As the winning project, the Outer Space Transmitter will accompany REGIOPARL throughout Europe’s regions, beginning in November 2020.
REGIOPARL’s research on regional parliaments in the EU is thus complemented by an artistic approach on debating Europe with citizens. Furthermore, the project aims at making an innovative contribution to the current debate on the future of Europe.
The artist Mona Schulzek designed the Outer Space Transmitter in the framework of her collaboration with the research project REGIOPARL. The realisation and financing of this contribution is carried out in cooperation with Forum Morgen.
Mona Schulzek
Mona Schulzek (*1992) is a visual artist. She studies at the art academy of Düsseldorf in the class of Gregor Schneider and Peter Piller. In 2019, she received the Max Ernst scholarship for her artistic work, which was accompanied by a solo exhibition in the Max Ernst Museum. She also received the 1st Prize of the Vonovia Awards for her photographic work “Ottomane”, which is presented in numerous private collections and museums.
Schulzek is going to take her exam to become an amateur radio operator in the spring of 2021 as part of her artistic research in the field of “electromagnetic art”.
Outer Space Transmitter
The Outer Space Transmitter is an apparatus able to send messages into space to extraterrestrial forms of life. It is presented in public places and invites people to approach Europe and life in the European Union from a personal perspective.
The Outer Space Transmitter travels through different regions in Europe, asking the question:
What does it mean to be a citizen of the European Union?
Passersby can enter their individual answers, using the installation’s terminal on site in their region. From each text message an art image is created and sent into space via the antenna of the apparatus. From there, the visual messages start their journey through the universe – maybe to be found one day as artefacts of our time.
All messages are published in a constantly growing digital archive on the project website www.outerspacetransmitter.art, to capture and portray the various perspectives of citizens in the different European regions.
Departures
The Outer Space Transmitter starts its journey in the German-speaking area of the EU and moves on to different regions throughout Europe, which also are research objects of REGIOPARL. Both, the urban and rural area are supposed to be represented with the selected locations.
On selected dates messages can be entered on the project website, which are then sent into space as radio wave signals.
12 | 11 | 2020
06.+07. | 05 | 2021
Digital Event University of Tübingen
06.+07. | 05 | 2021
18.-20. | 06 | 2021
Art festival AIC on 2021 in Cologne
What’s new?
First live event in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia
For the first time, the Outer Space Transmitter will be displayed in a public place at the art festival AIC ON 2021.
During the three-day event from 18. – 20. June 2021 people can send their individual messages from a specific spot on the European continent: form Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Messages can be entered on the project’s website www.outerspacetransmitter.art. The antenna will be presented at the Kunsthafen in Cologne for the whole weekend.
Past Events
1. Digital Depature in Tübingen on 6./7. May 2021
On Thursday and Friday, 6 and 7 May, the University of Tübingen, under the direction of Professor Gabriele Abels, in cooperation with the REGIOPARL research project and the Arbeitskreis Europäische Integration e.V., organized the conference “From Takers to Shapers”, to which the project team contributed both with scientific contributions and with the presentation of its art project, the Outer Space Transmitter.
During the conference participants had the possibility to send messages about Europe into space. Moreover, the artist Mona Schulzek was available for several Q&A-sessions and gave some insight into her conceptional idea of the art project.
Here you can find the video recording of the presentation of the Outer Space Transmitter.
Digital Kick-Off on 12th of November 2020
What does it mean to be a citizen of the European Union? On the 12th of November, REGIOPARL invited a well-versed panel to discuss this question from the different perspectives of science, politics and art. The digital event took place in the framework of the official launch of the art project Outer Space Transmitter by Mona Schulzek.
Prof. Dr. Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski, University of Leipzig, moderated the discussion on the interplay between region, nation and Europe between Secretary of State Mathias Weilandt, State Ministry of Saxony for Justice and Democracy, Europe and Equality, Prof. Ulrike Guérot, Danube University Krems, Prof. Gabriele Abels, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen and Franciska Zólyom, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig.
Here you can find the full press release (in German) about the event.
