Seeker [LJ4]
Gallery of Modern Art, Ljubljana
06 November 2013 – 13 February 2014
Seeker is a worldwide series of co-created starship sculptures that evolve over time. At its core, Seeker is a community art project that invites people to fundamentally rethink the future of human habitation and survival.
Instead of keeping the various functions connected to life support, work and leisure separated, the Seeker community sets out to create integrated, closed systems that favour hybridization and encourage sustainability. This is achieved by radically interconnecting technology, ecology and people, while at the same time tapping into local traditions.
Seeker [LJ4] isolation mission
Six artists and their colleagues lived in isolation inside the Seeker [LJ4] starship sculpture at Moderna galerija Ljubljana from February 9 through the 12th. During this ‘isolation mission’ they will test the structure that was co-created in December by a Slovenian and international crew. They will explore the psychological consequences of living isolated in a small space with limited resources. Crew members will conduct personal research projects such as food experiments, hydroponics, 3D design, and will engage in critical discussions on interstellar voyaging.
The crew consists of three men and three women – from Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Belgium:
Kaja Avberšek (SI): designer, illustrator
Ondřej Bělica (CZ): architecture student
Igor Križanovskij (SI): designer
Maruša Kuk (SI): mathematician, educator
Monika Pocrnjić (SI): artist, educator
Angelo Vermeulen (BE): artist, space systems researcher
Colophon
SEEKER [LJ4], 2014/15
Production: Zavod Projekt Atol, in cooperation with the Gallery of Moder Art, Ljubljana.
Support: City of Ljubljana and Ministry of Culture of the Rep. of Slovenia
Special thanks to JP Snaga and Jaša and the company of the Lovest project, whose materials we were able to recycle, reuse and upcycle when building Seeker [LJ4].
Bio
Angelo Vermeulen is an artist, scientist, filmmaker, biologist, space explorer, social worker, writer. He works with MELiSSA, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Life Support Division, is also a member of the ESA Arts and Sciences Team, and this year was the head of the three-month mission of the HI-SEAS Mars 2013 program, which was created in collaboration with NASA, in which they researched nutrition as part of a long stay in space. In 2010 he was one of the TED Fellows and named TED Senior Fellow. He has received numerous awards and recognitions, and his works have been exhibited in the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, and New Zealand.
Angelo Vermeulen