Victoria Keddie redefines the concept of space

During her residency period, the American artist Victoria Keddie (b. 1980) intends to observe the routes of satellites and space debris passing over the Saari Residence. Keddies’ work methods include sound and video. At the Saari Residence, she plans to track signals transmitted by satellites into electronic collages and quadraphonic sound score. She will also examine how humankind has redefined the concept of space by means of technology.

“Often, we look at the sky as an open frontier, an endless expansion of uncharted universe. What we are so often looking through is a cluttered lens of satellites in orbit, along with thousands of particles of space debris. What exists in LEO is visible in our night sky. The mapping of these devices not only points to their existence, but highlights the man made renegotiating of space, including the function and dysfunction we fail (or chose not) to see. Core to my research and practice are the theories surrounding collisional cascading, or a domino effect of space debris collisions. My residency proposal involves the detailed tracking of satellite communication systems and non functioning debris passing over the coordinates of the Saari Residence for the making of electronic collages and quadraphonic sound score from these sessions. These new works are to be the volumes of a larger electronic collage based series that I am just now embarking on”, Keddie says.