Photo: golden eye II, 2012
As one of the pioneer astronauts of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, German photographer and video artist artist Michael Najjar has been undergoing an intensive, multistage cosmonaut training in Star City, Russia, since 2012, and is scheduled to board SpaceShipTwo in the near future. Najjar has used this experience to produce a new body of work, outer space, now on view at Benrubi Gallery, New York, through May 14, 2016.
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outer space explores the latest development in space travel and how it is shaping future life on earth and in near-earth orbit. Najjar uses the actual experience of training (zero-g flight, centrifuge training, stratosphere flight, and underwater space walks, to name a few) to create complex and never-before carried out photos that examine vital connections between humans and technology. Video artworks based on Najjar’s extreme training will be shown as part of the exhibition.
liquid gravity, 2013
The result is one that is pure science fiction, creating a fresh and vibrant new experience of photography. As reality and simulation fuse to the point where they are indistinguishable, it becomes impossible to identify what is actually happening. The ability for perception to become the dominant truth reminds us of the incredible power of the photograph. Najjar pushes the potential to the edge, creating a fictitious reality that fully immerses you.
As Najjar observes of Oscillating, “The work is a visualization of the so-called Big Bounce theory describing the birth of our universe. According to the oscillatory universe theory, the Big Bang was simply the beginning of a period of expansion that followed a period of contraction. This suggests that we could be living at any point in an infinite sequence of universes, or conversely the current universe could be the very first iteration. The composition is based on super-high-res data visualization taken by Hubble Space Telescope. Several parts of the Universe have been stitched together to form a new fictive Universe. “
oscillating universe, 2014
Inspired by cutting-edge aeronautic technologies and the nascent space tourism industry, Najjar’s work feels like the dawn of a new tourist economy: The Age of Space Travel. Here we are seeing the first formative images of the new frontier, one that will become increasingly available to the most affluent members of society. For those who have long dreamed of an age of spaceflight, the day has come when civilian can begin ascending to the heavens in search of what lays beyond.
“By leaving our home planet and flying to the moon or other planets, we change our understanding of who we are and where we come from,” Najjar observes. “The point is to reflect on our world and what it means to us and the generations to come after us. It’s about the very origins of the self.”
europa, 2015
All photos: ©Michael Najjar/Courtesy of Benrubi Gallery, NYC.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
