“THE MEANING OF LIFE” – INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

In the scope of the upcoming documentary “The Meaning of Life” directed by Portuguese award-winning film-maker Miguel Gonçalves Mendes, in a joint initiative with the European Space Agency, Vhils created a site-specific piece especially conceived for the Observation Cupola of the International Space Station (ISS) – the only place from where astronauts can observe the planet Earth in its entirety. The piece portrays Andreas Mogensen – the first Danish astronaut to make it into space – and was made to fit into the main window of the Cupola module. Printed on micro-perforated PVC film, the portrait incorporates the nuances which the Earth’s rotation and light project onto astronaut Andreas Mogensen’s face. After a two-day journey aboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz, Andreas Mogensen reached the International Space Station. Once on board, the astronaut shot a video featuring Vhils’s first site-specific artwork in space.

Covering the main window of the cupola observatory that faces the Earth, the piece creates a visual dialogue between Man and the blue planet as it incorporates the light and colours reflected off the Earth into the piece and lets them shine through the astronaut’s face.