La Mécanique Céleste, Une méthode pour atteindre des altitudes extrêmes
(The Celestial Mechanic, a Method to Reach Extreme Altitudes)
2019
project started during the 1+2 residency
La mécanique Céleste as part of the book case Élégies (Résidence 1+2), Edition Filigranes
Format 170 x 250 mm
Paper : Fedrigoni, Symbol Tatami White 135g & Symbol Freelife premium white 140g
Author and graphic design : Manon Lanjouère
September 2019
ISBN 978 2 35046 490 9
400 copies
At all time, man observed the celestial vault. Always present above his head, the planets and the stars have stimulated the imagination of man. They have generated in him the desire of reaching them. Quickly, at night, he dreamed that he « had found the secret to free himself from the laws of gravity, in a way that his body had become indifferent to go up or down and could do either way with an equal simplicity and according to his willing » tells us Brillat-Savarin. That dreamlike flight mobilizing under a slight impulsion is the impression itself of a pure leap, of an impulsion for ever suspended. The men then becomes, through his dream, a light and floating being, finding back the maternal matrix. But our desire of flying, as ancient as the humanity, requires an overachievement of the body, which alone cannot raise himself. But how te resolve the problem of the flight mecanic ? How to find that dynamic that will allows us to free ourselves from the gravity’s laws ?That quest, which was until now only a visual one, transformed itself little by little in a physical project.
To reach those extreme altitudes , the man had to make sure that the centrifugal force and the earth’s attraction was counterbalancing truly. In order for the chosen vehicle to receive a mathematically accurate impulse, the man had to follow the old celestial mechanics again. Thus was born the science of astronautics, capable of predicting the trajectory and speed of any projectile. Travels out of our atmosphere are then taking shape, but where is it all about going? This leak to the sky will make us imagine with urge the flight of astronauts in zero-gravity, thus becoming revealing agents of this underlying dream. While 2019 marks the anniversary of man's first step on the Moon, it could only be the first landmark on the road to infinity, an ideal laboratory to solve mysteries about the origin of the world. With The Celestial Mechanic, I make myself the vessel of an imaginary trip, transporting us in the world’s confines, a travel in the history of propulsion mechanics and towards the space void. Reminding us that imagination was and will overtly be the ideal vehicle of simulation of scientific proposals.
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To reach those extreme altitudes , the man had to make sure that the centrifugal force and the earth’s attraction was counterbalancing truly. In order for the chosen vehicle to receive a mathematically accurate impulse, the man had to follow the old celestial mechanics again. Thus was born the science of astronautics, capable of predicting the trajectory and speed of any projectile. Travels out of our atmosphere are then taking shape, but where is it all about going? This leak to the sky will make us imagine with urge the flight of astronauts in zero-gravity, thus becoming revealing agents of this underlying dream. While 2019 marks the anniversary of man's first step on the Moon, it could only be the first landmark on the road to infinity, an ideal laboratory to solve mysteries about the origin of the world. With The Celestial Mechanic, I make myself the vessel of an imaginary trip, transporting us in the world’s confines, a travel in the history of propulsion mechanics and towards the space void. Reminding us that imagination was and will overtly be the ideal vehicle of simulation of scientific proposals.
exhibition view at the Chapelle des Cordeliers, Toulouse, FRANCE, 2019
