O t he r Wo r l d s
Jane Grant
O t he r Wo r l d s
Jane Grant
In early astronomy, observations with the naked eye of the Moon, our nearest celestial neighbour were drawn from comparisons with our planet. Using the Earth as a reference point, understandings of terrestrial physical laws were utilized in an attempt to comprehend the objects and intervening substances [1] in the night sky.
The invention of the telescope brought about what art historian, Martin Kemp calls ‘structured seeing’, a paradigm shift in human perception alongside the ability to see further into the vast depths of space.
Other Worlds is about the human longing to make tangible our place in the universe, to understand the structure of matter and time through visual observation through notation alongside scientific method.
The history and philosophy of astrophysics is littered with obsolete theories of ‘other worlds’. These worlds, observed through early telescopes or by the naked eye are speculative, and combined with an understanding of natural terrestrial phenomena and imagination often tell us more about matters on Earth rather than these other worlds themselves.
Records of these observations or theories tell of longing and a desire to temporarily inhabit, if only perceptually these other places, to couple the Earth and its inhabitants to what might have been, to the Earth’s doppelganger
At one time our Moon was thought to be a vast celestial mirror reflecting an image of the Earth back to all those gazing upon the lunar surface. And if we were to see the Moon in more detail we might have just caught a glimpse of ourselves, at a remove, to see our habitat as a whole, a unique and separate entity distant in the blackness of space.
The visual story of the film takes place in the observatory, where the exquisite beauty of the telescopic mechanics are depicted alongside shots of the intervening substance of the atmosphere, our weather.
The narrative, spoken and written, will describe what is beyond our atmosphere, focusing on the celestial objects or ‘other worlds’ seen through telescopes, mirrors, and through vast distances of space and time.
The narrative will include the discoveries of Anaxagoras, James Nasmyth, Alexander von Humboldt, George Darwin and others.These discoveries act as a depiction of longing, of transference to these ‘other worlds’ made almost tangible in the darkened space of the observatory. 1. Scott L.Montgomery, The Moon and Western Imagination,The University of Arizona press (1999) p.73.
Other Worlds is a multiscreen artists’ film by Jane Grant. It is filmed at the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California, Kielder Observatory, Northumberland and The Royal Astrological Society in London. Jane Grant 2014