Global Periphery: Contemporary Imaginaries of Space, Multiple Voices – A Hybrid Conference

Global Periphery is a symposium exploring the contemporary imaginaries of space through examples of artistic creations and of activities from the space sector with voices from multiple continents and locations.

It is part of More-Than-Planet, a Creative Europe project of which Leonardo/Olats is a partner. Global Periphery is thus part of a conceptual understanding of the planet as a global dynamic system.

As we witness more countries joining the space faring nations, the arrival of private companies in the so-called “New Space”, as major new astronomical instruments have been deployed in South America, Africa and in Space, as we are questioning anew what the Human presence in space should be and our inhabiting our own Planet, it is a perfect time to reconsider the space imaginaries.

The dominant space imaginaries are rooted in the culture of the nations that have lead the first era of the space exploration, largely coming from the United States of America and the Hollywood iconography. What have been —and are— doing all the others? Stating, analysing, re-interpreting, questionning, cross-breeding, inventing, creating space imaginaries in and from multiple dimensions is at the core of Global Periphery.

The time when we divided the World in “center” and “periphery” is gone. We are all in periphery, next to each other, sharing the same Planet, the same sky and the same cosmos.