Interplanetary Simulations

Interplanetary Simulations, the first volume of Travesías Terremoto, is a research residency that brings together Latin American artistic and scientific practices to explore space conquest, planetary imagination and the possibilities of the cosmos in the face of a bleak future on Earth. The project consists of the exploration of the Sonoran desert—characterized by its exoplanetary landscape—to collectively reflect on utopian strategies of world creation, non-hegemonic futures and space exploration under an anti-patriarchal, anti-colonial and anti-racist gaze.

Five Latin American visual artists will have the opportunity to experience an exceptional immersion in the Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere, in close collaboration with a team of space scientists from the Agencia Espacial Mexicana and the Universidad Autónoma de México.

The project seeks to think of the Sonoran desert as an exoplanetary scenario characterized by its star-shaped dunes, unusual flora and fauna, and giant craters, in order to collectively reflect on space exploration, world building, planetary imagination, and the possibilities of the cosmos in the face of a bleak future on this planet.

The residency co-curated by Helena Lugo (Terremoto’s director) Ana Cristina Olvera (science communicator) will be conceived as an analog mission where artists will be involved hand in hand with scientists to carry out explorations, experiments, walks, research, generate dialogues, and write collectively. Thus, space exploration is crossed by artistic views capable of contributing to the spatial conversation from a sensitive, experimental, collaborative, imaginative and radical place. The project provides cultural agents with the real possibility of contributing to the feat conceived as one of technocratic advances and allow them to raise concerns from the history of colonialism, patriarchy and the great social inequalities from a perspective of the global south, extremely necessary for the continuation of life.

Interplanetary Simulations seeks to navigate around the questions: What are the horizons of organic and inorganic life? How does space exploration challenge our society? Can we escape the Western, colonial and patriarchal narratives that are consuming the Earth? What might extraterrestrial art and literature be? Can artistic practices contribute to the construction of other, perhaps more imaginative, futures on this and other surfaces of the cosmos? Interplanetary Simulations is more than a simulation; it is an attempt to create possibilities based on strategies of planetary imagination and utopian thinking from a Latin American perspective.

In the era of climate change, water and air pollution, and the decline of species diversity, one of the most pressing issues of our time is to turn to narratives that consider planetary repair, ecological restoration and the possibility of inhabiting other worlds. This project, therefore, seeks to think of extraterrestrial travel as a center of imaginal recomposition, based on explorations of the Anthropocene, science fiction, decolonial practices, spatial narratives and speculative fabulation.

The residency will be accompanied by a public program, an exhibition, a printed publication and a series of texts for our online platform.

Interplanetary Simulations is a project carried out in collaboration with Ayarkut and is possible thanks to the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts (United States), Fundación Ama Amoedo (Uruguay) and Intelisis Software through EFIARTES (Mexico). Organizations such as LA ESCUELA__ (Latin America and the Caribbean), Y.ES Contemporary (El Salvador), Pivô (Brazil) and the Embassy of Brazil in Mexico join the project by allowing artists of different profiles and nationalities to participate in the residency. We appreciate the support of Celma Art Brokers for the artwork logistics, as well as the Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere and the Museum of Art of Sonora MUSAS as the main locations of the project.

Interplanetary Simulations is divided into different moments and formats:

I. Analog mission
Place: Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere

Two weeks,  March- April 2024

Analog missions are activities undertaken on Earth in various environments to simulate aspects of space missions. They are generally conducted in deserts, tundras or places that resemble scenarios such as asteroids, Mars or the Moon, where various tests are conducted with different equipment and experiments around gravity, temperature and human resilience. Many of the space voyages of previous decades used analog missions to prepare for leaving the atmosphere, landing on the Moon and permanently orbiting the Earth. Interplanetary Simulations aims to be as close as possible to the idea of an analog space mission so that the concerns of the artists can transpire in the scientific realm. For two weeks, they will go on exploration walks, collect samples, test equipment and learn about the particularities of exploring another planet, using the Sonoran desert as an exoplanetary scenario. Our analog  mission will be designed by Danton Bazaldua, a Mexican national named by the UN Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) as one of four emerging leaders in the space sector. It will also receive visits from scientists, who will be invited to spend time with the artists during the mission and share their knowledge of astrophysics, biology, science and technology.

II. Laboratory
Place: Rocky Point
Two weeks,  April 2024

After the analog mission, artists will have another two weeks in a house/ studio near the Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere to delimit research, produce work, write, regroup, readings, conversations, and dialogue their experiences. It is proposed that cultural agents can generate pedagogical activities and devise activities to share their practices and research. We want to provide a space for encounters, the development of practices, research and creative work. A kind of intensive laboratory where residents can share their questions and concerns from their contexts, subjectivities and localities.

III. Editorial content
terremoto.mx
March-August 2024

In order to continue with the critical thinking that has been developed through the editorial core of Terremoto, editorial content will be generated from the research derived from the journeys and will be constantly disseminated on our online platform. With this in mind, we will continue to create unpublished, original and critical texts on the most urgent artistic and curatorial practices in the region. Additionally, each artist will have a space on our website to commission texts, expanding their interests and current practices around the central thematic axis of the year’s volume. Residents will be able to contribute to the editorial content by proposing topics of interest, thus permeating our platforms in a transversal manner for the duration of each residency.

IV. Publication
October 2024

A print publication will also be produced in collaboration with Temblores Publicaciones, compiling the work of the artists, commissioned texts, fieldwork and research. This publication will be widely distributed in order to bring the Latin American vision of the spatial conquest to diverse international contexts.

V. Exhibition
Museo de Arte de Sonora MUSAS
April-July 2024

The project will rely on local institutional alliances such as the MUSAS to expose the results of the work developed during research, and residency. The residents could develop an unprecedented work based on their experience during the mission. The exhibition will include the production of works such as bitácoras, photographic and videographic records of walks, explorations and investigations. Likewise, the exhibition will present works by other artists who are exploring the same narratives, thus generating a dialogue with other practices, locations and investigations.

OPEN CALLS
October 17 – December 15, 2023
Results: end of January 2024
Residency: March – April 8, 2024 

With the intention of cultivating spaces for collaboration, reflection and dialogue in Latin America and the Caribbean, Terremoto announces its open calls and alliances to select the 5 participating artists in the first edition of Travesías Terremoto. The programs are fully funded including transportation, insurance, meals and programming. Open calls will remain open from October 17 to December 15, 2023.

Open call Terremoto

Terremoto  announces its open call for the selection of two Latin American, Latinx or Caribbean participants living in any part of the world. We continue with our mission to build networks across the continent and give visibility to practices in the south. We summon for the creation of critical spaces, collaboration and radical reflection. We transform the printed magazine into a series of travel-dialogues that encourage critical thinking within our geopolitical and affective realities. To apply,  you must fill out this form in Google Forms. (If you are from Brasil or Central America please check  our other open calls)

Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScad5Nfs8DNcZ6_ODTAkR8TdQ0RIul4zJkqeg3e4Q7BUNefqA/viewform?usp=send_form

Terremoto + LA ESCUELA_

With the intention of cultivating spaces for collaboration in Latin America and the Caribbean, Terremoto + LA ESCUELA_ opens a call for artist educators to participate in the first volume of Travesías Terremoto.

Under a common interest, this residency seeks to bring art and education to specific places through themes that address social, political and environmental challenges in different regions of the Americas. Additionally it offers space for diverse perspectives of learning and educational models to from the collective.

The selected person, in addition to being part of the program of the first volume as an artist, will be responsible for providing and organizing pedagogical exercises that foster the critical spirit of the activities that are carried out during the residency. Find out more details about the residence here.

Open call for Y.ES Contemporary + Earthquake

Terremoto and Y.ES Contemporary announce their open call for the selection of one Central American artist for the first volume of Travesías Terremoto.

This collaboration seeks to think about creating networks throughout the Americas, while also having time to support and increase the visibility of contemporary artists from Central America. Y.ES Contemporary has been focused for more than twenty years on supporting contemporary artists through curatorial artistic trips, workshops, exhibitions, shows, and studio visits scheduled locally and internationally.

To apply to the residency you must fill out this Google form.

Selection by invitation
Terremoto + Pivô +The Embassy of Brazil in Mexico

Historically, Terremoto has cultivated multiple relationships with Brazilian artistic and curatorial practices, which is why its essential to contemplate the participation of one participant from this region during our first edition of Travesías. From an internal selection Pivô will nominate 5 artists and winner will be selected to participate in the first volume of Travesías Terremoto through a jury.

Pivô is a non-profit cultural association founded in 2012 that acts as a platform for exchange and artistic experimentation from its space in the Copan Building, in the center of São Paulo. The main objective of the institution is to promote and disseminate local artistic production and create a free and open space for dialogue between different agents within the scope of contemporary culture at national and international level.

Interplanetary Simulations is the beginning of an urgent conversation between art, space and society in general, which has the power to dislocate our relationship with history, influence the construction of our realities and imagine new relationships with this and other planets.

If you have any question please write us to travesias@terremoto.mx