On Friday, 15 October a satellite dish will be place in front of JU Collegium Novum building. The device will be available to passers-by throughout the day, allowing them to send their message to the outer space. The installation is part of the research project run by the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University. The event will be accompanied by an afternoon debate.

The Outer Space Transmitter is a dialogical artwork that invites people to approach Europe and life in the European Union from a personal perspective. The installation consists of a functional antenna through which messages can be sent into space – possibly received by extra-terrestrial forms of life one day.

The Outer Space Transmitter travels through different regions in Europe, asking the question: What does it mean to be a citizen of the European Union?

Passers-by can enter their individual answers, using the installation’s terminal. By engaging in this experience, participants have the possibility to share their personal perspective on the EU, a polity often perceived as detached from people’s lives: What role does the EU play as a political community for us – as individuals and as a society? (How) Do we feel part of it? And which thoughts on the EU do we want to share with others – maybe also with forms of life currently unknown to us? All messages are published in a constantly growing digital archive and sent into space as art images.

As a dialogical art project, the Outer Space Transmitter has no political or ideological agenda. The focus is rather on the personal experience of every individual participating in the process of creating art images. By publishing all messages in the digital archive of the project website, the Outer Space Transmitter presents various perspectives on the European Union as a political community.

Photo: Mona Schulzek