On the Judgement of Virgo Moon at a Feast of Mercury

Moving image, March 2020, in collaboration with  James Stephen Wright, March 2020

On the Judgement of the Virgo Moon at a Feast of Mercury is visual interpretation on concepts of objecthood, virtuality, gel-like fluid ontologies and non-humanness. It was made in March 2020, just before COVID-19 started to be perceived as a serious threat in the UK. It is rooted in vernacular culture. The title is a reference to Simon de Covino’s On the Judgement of Sol at the Feasts of Saturn, a poem written in 1350 during an outbreak of the Black Plague. The cosmic bodies of Virgo Moon and Mercury are in reference to the planet constellation on the date of the exhibition opening the work was presented. They reference the human’s obsession with astrology through history and its recent revival in popular culture. The celestial-like abstract bodies float across the screen, with the occasional appearance of a plastic hand-sanitising dispenser – an object that has become a signifier of the last few months. Like an actant on its own, the dispenser can also be seen like a celestial body that floats above Earth and therefore can be read into: is it an omen of what is about the take place? What is the connection between Earth and Space?The ubiquitous digitality of our experience of space is often overlooked. If we can only picture space thanks to electronic machines such as digital telescopes, simulations and camera footage, how much do we understand of what we see? As T.J. Demos has suggested, these satellite images create a visual language that sustains that it is a space beyond human comprehension (T.J. Demos, Against the Anthropocene). Yet, this perception is what hinders us from taking responsibility of our actions and interpretations.

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