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Vincent Fournier – Space Utopia

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“Space is the great adventure of humanity, a leap into the void, into the dark light, beyond the protective atmosphere of the Earth and the gravity that connects us to it. It is the universal desire to contemplate and be projected into the sky .

Desire, from Latin desiderare means nostalgia for the star, regret for a lost star. But how could one desire something unknown? Could it be that star dust that we are remembering this primitive time when we were floating in space? The man would then be like a god fallen from heaven, nostalgic and unconscious of this star that he lost.

My fascination, aesthetic, philosophical and playful for the space adventure comes certainly from the images and books that I saw and read in the 70s / 80s, from these television series, novels and sci-fi movies, documentaries and news, which have mixed and superimposed in my memory as a palimpsest. My images are the result of this mixture between purely documentary elements and a very constructed staging where each element depends on a general composition. Thus, the emblematic places of the space conquest became film sets where Tintin meets Jules Verne in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey.

Between 2007 and 2017 I photographed the past and future of space exploration, from the memories of the Apollo program that followed the first steps of Man on the Moon, to the future NASA SLS rocket to go to Mars.

This decade also marks the opening and transition from politics to economics in the space sector, whose geographical dimension is now worldwide and global.

Indeed, after the Cold War and the domination of the national superpowers, space exploration is less a military issue than a an economic investment directed by private industries with multiple interests: communication, science, research and development, meteorology, ecology, health, technology and even space tourism.

I would like to thank all the space centers who have given me their trust and allowed me to venture behind the gates of these secretly guarded places. They have allowed me to relive my childhood dreams and I express all my gratitude to them here. ”

Vincent Fournier

 

A 10-year photographic odyssey [2007/2017] that unveils the most emblematic and best-protected space centers and observatories around the world.

Vincent Fournier portrays with aestheticism and poetry the history of space exploration, from the Apollo and Sputnik programs to the future Mars mission of NASA.

This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of NASA, the 50th anniversary of the  film 2001, Space Odyssey and the 55th birthday of Major Tom. In 2019, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first step of the Man on the Moon aboard the Apollo 11 Mission.

 

www.space-utopia.com

www.vincentfournier.co.uk

 

Éditions NOEVE and RIZZOLI present

SPACE UTOPIA – Vincent Fournier

 

Opening and signing of the book

Thursday 20 September 2018 – 18h30 / 22h

 

Exhibition

September 20 / November 15, 2018

Perpitch & Bringand Gallery

7 rue Paul Louis Courier

75007 Paris

www.perpitch-bringand.com

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