Exhibition to draw parallel between Earth, outer space

Through posters, collages, photographs, infographics and videos, an exhibition in the capital will draw a parallel between Earth and outer space, bringing into focus questions about environmental degradation, sustainability and recycling.

Questions like "Is survival on earth becoming even more precarious than in space?", "Can our cities survive for long if they continue to grow irresponsibly?", "How can policy makers intervene to make our cities self-sufficient?" would be raised through "The Undivided Mind", an exhibition emanating from a two-week residency that explores the crossover between two seemingly unrelated fields of art and science.

This exhibition explores the ways in which scientific processes and discovery can be coupled with visual art production and vice-versa and has been created during the residency by the City As A Spaceship (CAAS) Collective and Rohini Devasher.

It will be open for public viewing at Khoj Studios from Feb 27 to March 3.

CAAS Collective comprises of Susmita Mohanty, spaceship designer and aerospace entrepreneur, Barbara Imhof, space architect and Sue Fairburn, scientist and design researcher.

Devasher is a visual artist who has participated in several past residency programmes at Khoj.

"Ever wondered how astronauts live in outer space? Their space habitat is not very different in size, basic amenities from that of a micro compact home or workspace in super dense cities like Mumbai, Tokyo, New York or Sao Paulo," said Mohanty in a statement.

"The extreme shortage of real estate, clean air, water, waste disposal in dense cities present living problems not dissimilar to those encountered in extra terrestrial, synthetic environments," she added.

According to Mohanty, smart cities are small, self-sufficient and those which utilise portable habitats - just like a space station.

"We want people to conceptualise, visualise and materialise how to tread the planet lightly," she added.

The works on display will focus on data collected through CAAS's interactions with people of Khirki Extension in south Delhi and the neighbourhood.

"Through our collages that juxtapose various living environments on earth and that in space, we want to create a dialogue that earth and space are not exclusive of each other," Fairburn, Canadian scientist who works with concepts of extreme physiology, said.