444.2

Photogrammetric reconstruction of the SALT (Southern African Large Telescope) plateau. The 360 image export is composited with an image of the Milky Way credited to ESO and B.Tapissier.

Nirma Madhoo. Juried Artist
Constellations
VR Program at QUT Kelvin Grove

Artist Statement

The project title derives from the astronomical practices of the original stargazers of Southern Africa, who first mapped isiLimela (later named the Pleiades), which constellates 444.2 light years away from Earth.

In this 6-DoF experience, these ancient practices are superposed on the geography and modern astrophysics of the Southern African Large Telescope.

Fly over and traverse the starlit & ghostly terrain of the semi-desertic Karoo, where volumetric fashion performance unfolds to a cinematic Afro-diasporic score.

Feminist and expressionist, costumed figurations and particle bodies morph in a triptych, entangling African cosmology with the technological sublime of inner and outer space.

About the artists

Nirma Madhoo (she/her) is a fashion filmmaker and XR creator. Using a transdisciplinary approach, her practice-based PhD at RMIT University explores digital fashion bodies as performative matter and posthuman performance in virtual and augmented realities. Nirma recently participated in La Biennale di Venezia College Cinema VR and her work has shown internationally in UK, France, Scotland, Germany, South Africa, Canada and Australia at film and digital festivals such as London Short Film Festival, Berlinale EFM, MUTEK Montréal, SXSW and SIGGRAPH Asia.

Credits: Nirma Madhoo

URL: https://anatomythestudio.com/

ISEA2024 acknowledges the Turrbal and Yugara as the First Nations owners of the lands where the symposium will be held. We pay our respects to their elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. We also acknowledge and pay respects to all First Nations peoples across the continent and beyond Australian shores.