Winnie Claessens
© Winnie Claessens
Winnie Claessens thematises the universe, space infrastructure and cosmic colonialism to investigate how geopolitical and economic power influence the relationship humanity has with outer space. Space becomes the place where the debris of nations — their competing aspirations, ideologies, technological progress, and their espionage activities — can be found.
Claessens work is situated between technology and imagination, using references from science fiction, where physical infrastructures take on unique personalities. The Great Ballet in Orbit focuses on the vast space debris orbiting the Earth. Defunct satellites express emotions. To quote from Haruki Murakami’s novel Sputnik Love, the novel that inspired Claessens: “Lonely metal souls in the unimpeded darkness of space, they meet, pass each other, and part, never to meet again. No words passing between them. No promises to keep”. Viewing classifications of abandoned satellites, we learn not about their technical ability but rather of their existential fears in the vastness of space, doomed like all ‘space-junk’ to float aimlessly for eternity.
The Cosmic Dance / The Planetary Parade is a kite that represents the planets in our solar system and satellites that orbit them. A ‘planetary parade’ takes place in the rare occasions when multiple celestial bodies from our solar system appear in alignment to their Earth-bound observer. Made of bamboo and paper — used in China for more than two thousand years in order to fly metres-long mythical creatures in the form of kites — Claessens reflects on the very human desire to fly and leave behind the earthly realm.
Earth observation satellite – launched on 23 April 1963
Big fan of Skeeter Davis “the end of the world” (which launched in the same year). With its short lifespan of only three years, he’s been off the air for so long, that from time to time he gets overwhelmed by depressed feelings. Occasionally he meets the weather observation satellite. And that always lifts his spirit.From: The Great Ballet in Orbit, 2021
The Great Ballet in Orbit, 2021
Video, 08:31 min.
Courtesy City of Antwerp, on long-term loan to M HKA
Future Archeology Ballet, 2024
Video loop, 09:29 min.
Courtesy the artist
The Cosmic Dance / The Planetary Parade, 2024
Bamboo, paper, nylon, watercolour, 20 × 100 × 600 cm
Courtesy the artist
Future Archeology – Scarpa, 2024
Iron, lacquer, concrete, PVC, nylon, 125 × 145 × 22 cm
Courtesy the artist
The Silent Message Overhead, 2025
2 sculptures, 195 × 54 × 46 cm and 280 × 148 × 100 cm, with built-in video screens,
13:19 min.
Courtesy the artist