Micromegas: Vagabond Flux

New work has been commissioned in response to Voltaire’s Micromégas text of 1752, a seminal work in the genre of science fiction. Key ideas offered to the artists and writer were scale, human foible, scientific superstitions, science as ruse, science as spectacle, anti-utopias, human essence, and the formation of ideas.

This publishing project and mobile exhibition that includes the first edition, MICROMEGAS > POWERS OF 10, brings together in its second edition posters by Jonn Herschend, Stefanos Pavlakis & Tobias Kauer, Jacques Longuecolline, Mick Peter, Bik Van der Pol, Laure Prouvost, Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen and a booklet with essay by Emma Bolland, ‘Micromegas, Dog Star: Dreaming Transmissions of a Cosmonaut Bitch.’

MICROMEGAS: VAGABOND FLUX was first presented in Tourcoing, France in 2015 as part of Vagabond Flux, a mobile modular presentation unit commissioned by Fondation de France’s 'Nouxeaux commanditaires' scheme, by the Masters CEAC students (exhibition-production) of Lille 3 University.

The posters form a component of the exhibitions, and when folded, each is an element of the publication. The exhibitions, publication and an academic paper investigate notions of portability, reproduction, distribution and presentation in contemporary

art practice and curation with reference to Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte en Valise. Number Two in Duchamp’s series is held in Scotland, in the National Galleries of Scotland collection. The project also explores issues central to our art practice; recycling, appropriation, reproduction, re-presentation and artist-led curatorial practice. It references Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design's unique Artists’ Books Collection Dundee (abcDundee) to highlight contemporary issues within transmediation and ekphrasis. Each component of the project contributes to an exploration of the innovative possibilities of visual publishing.

Posters, 2015

Digital print on archive paper

1189 x 841 mm (A0)

Mick Peter

Jacques Longuecolline    Laure Prouvost

Jonn Herschend

Bik Van der Pol    Tracy Mackenna & Edwin Janssen

Stefanos Pavlakis & Tobias Kauer