KOSMICA - Yuri Gagarin Night, celebrating 50 years of human spaceflight

Part of our series of galactic gatherings for earth-bound artists, space engineers, performers, astronomers, musicians and anyone interested in exploring and sharing space in original ways, the programme on this very special night included:

First Orbit - World Premiere of Christopher Riley's film (100mins)

In a unique collaboration with the European Space Agency, and the Expedition 26/27 crew of the International Space Station, filmmaker Christopher Riley created a new film of what Gagarin first witnessed fifty years ago. By matching the orbital path of the Space Station, as closely as possible, to that of Gagarin's Vostok 1 spaceship and filming the same vistas of the Earth through the new giant cupola window, astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and Christopher Riley, have captured a new digital high definition view of the Earth below, half a century after Gagarin first witnessed it. Weaving these new views together with historic, recordings of Gagarin from the time, (subtitled in Englsih) and an original score by composer Philip Sheppard, they created a spellbinding film to share with people around the world on this historic anniversary.
http://www.firstorbit.org

"Poyekhali" (Lets Go!) - Performance reading by Nick Edwards

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's heroic flight, Nick Edwards will present a reading of the transcript of Gagarin’s conversation with ground control and the tape recording he made whilst in orbit. Using the original audio recording of Gagarin’s conversation with ground control and a transcript of the tape recording he made whilst in orbit, Nick Edwards will present a reading in real time of Gagarin’s historic first flight. `
www.poyekhali.net
www.nedwards.net

Dubmorphology - Live music by Trevor Mathison and Gary Stewart

Trevor Mathison is an artist primarily working with audio and digital media. He visited the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City, Moscow with The Arts Catalyst. He was a member of the noted artistic collective The Black Audio Film Collective and is currently part of Smoking Dogs. As 'Dubmorphology' he is teaming up with media artist Gary Stewart to present a short audio and visual  tribute to the first man in space.

Support

KOSMICA series is programmed by Nahum Mantra.

KOSMICA is endorsed by ITACCUS, the International Astronautical Federation's Committee on the Cultural Utilisation of Space.