We have always looked to the starry skies above and wondered what is out there. Space represents the aspiration to push beyond our limits, to take a step out into the unknown, and to dream about a future among the stars in the night sky. It encapsulates both the curiosity and excitement of discovering something new, and the timeless questions about who we are and where in this enormous vastness we belong.

The universe is a never-ending source of fascination, inspiration and big questions. The exhibition “SPACE – A Visual Journey” explores the celestial frontier where artistic expression and scientific inquiry meet, and captures the grandeur of the cosmos through the eyes of astronomers and the interpretive visions of artists alike.

Through works by 14 different artists, we encounter questions like who we are in the face of eternity and when we leave our planet behind, what values we bring with us when we discover new worlds, and who has the right to dream about a future outside of Earth’s atmosphere.

THE IMMENSITY OF SPACE

Artists in the exhibition include multiartist and engineer Mikael Owunna, who explores the intersections of science, art, and African cosmologies. Irish artist Rhiannon Adam shares how she was chosen among millions of applicants and as the only woman to take part in Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa’s SpaceX trip to the moon. She describes how space has long been accessible to the extreme rich and the superhuman, while here a group of civilians – among them artists and musicians – would have got to travel around the Moon and back, with the goal of contemplating and creating, and letting new perspectives and insights grow. The project was unexpectedly cancelled in June 2024, and the participants who had invested several years in preparing themselves were forced to pick up the pieces of their lives that had been on hold.

The exhibition has been curated by Johan Vikner, Global Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska; Sofia Liljergren, Exhibition Producer at Fotografiska Stockholm, and Maarja Loorents, Head of Exhibitions at Fotografiska Tallinn, together with the local team.